A Little Legolas Fic
by the evil witch queen
Summary: Just a fic about our favourite little prince's childhood.
1. Prologue

Little Legolas Fic

Summary-This is a little Legolas fic. No slash. Please read and review. Please? 

Disclaimer- I don't own lotr nor do I make money from this fic.

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A/N-Legolas is the equivalent to 5 years old.

**Prologue**

"Arhivil! Get Legolas out of here!" Ailiel, Queen of Mirkwood cried.

The Prince's mentor quickly grabbed his hand and scooping him up began to run, the trees were feet away but the orcs were gaining fast. Only a handful had come after them though. As the prince looked over Arhivil's shoulder he saw his mother surrounded by orcs.

"Naneth," the young prince called out in terror, "Naneth!"

Hundreds of orcs were swarming everywhere, his mother was defending herself as best she could but wouldn't last for long and he was being carried up a tree, out of the orcs' reach. Up, up the tree he was carried, higher and higher, further and further from his mother. Suddenly he was almost flung from Arhivil's arms as an orc arrow hit her in the shoulder. She cried out in pain and was barely able to cling onto the young prince. She told him,

"Get further up the tree nin caun, hurry. Climb higher, get further up! Quick!"

Legolas hurriedly obeyed, climbing higher and higher, to safety. When he was as far up as he could get, he turned to see his mother and what he saw nearly made his heart stop. As if in slow motion he watched as an orc cut a small chunk out of his mothers side, then as she cried in pain holding the wound, another stuck its blade in her back, her bright blood stained the ground, she fell to her knees, gasping in pain. All the prince could hear was screaming, pain, yelling, and the cry of 'climb higher!' Black smoke from the fires the orcs had started clouded his lungs; his ears rung as another orc plunged his sword through his mother's chest. Falling back, his mother's blue eyes met his own, and through that gaze he heard her voice inside his head saying,

"Im meleth le, nin ion. Namarie."

"Naneth!" he was falling into darkness, falling, falling, falling…

"Naneth!" the little prince screamed, waking up and sitting bolt upright in bed.

Breathing hard he slowly looked around, the memories flooded back to him, visiting his sister's grave, the ambush, his mother's death.

"Naneth." He whispered to himself as silent tears flowed down his cheeks.

It had been three months since his mother's death, but still nightmares haunted him. Lying down again he fell asleep once more, only to see her soul departing from Middle-earth, crossing the sea, to Mandos.

Meanwhile, in the next room, King Thranduil of Mirkwood stood at his window, listening to his son, wishing he could have helped him but knowing he could not. He couldn't help with dreams the way that Ailiel had; she had always been the one to comfort the children after nightmares. Poor Thranduil was truly sorry that his hunting party hadn't got there sooner, he had been so close to saving her, but she had gone to the Halls of Mandos now. He only hoped she would have peace there, with the hope of a happy, quiet life, free from worry or doubt.

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A/N - Legolas is sitting at the children's table because children aren't allowed at the high table.

The next day, at breakfast, the young prince sat very still, not eating much and not talking. Three young ones, Aros, Balar and Earelen, who were best friends, kept glancing at him pityingly. 

"Poor caun," Balar said, "To suffer such loss and have no really close friends to lean on."

"Yeah, especially as he was there when his mother died," Aros added, "Seeing what happened to her must have been awful, her body was pretty mangled."

"Do you think maybe we should offer to help him?" Earelen asked, "That way we could be the friends he's always needed."

"And probably wanted." added Balar.

"Once breakfast's over, let's go and talk to him." Aros suggested.

"Good idea." The other two agreed.

For Legolas, breakfast seemed to last an eternity, he really wanted to go back to his room but he knew he had to wait. Finally the meal was nearly over. He felt someone looking at him. That stare made him feel uncomfortable. Most of the time he didn't mind people looking at him, but this time it was a strange feeling inside him that said 'I don't like the way I'm being stared at'. The prince turned to the direction the gaze was coming from and saw a young girl staring at him; she was about his age and sitting with two boys about the same age. As the two-made eye contact a sort of link was formed so neither could pull away.

Aros and Balar noticed something different about Earelen straight away, her pupils had gone bright silver and she was breathing hard and trembling slightly. Following the line of their friend's eyes they saw the young prince who was also breathing harder than normal and trembling slightly, though his eyes had remained the same. Legolas was desperately trying to break the gaze, for as the two stared at each other they both saw images of his mother's death, the nightmare he had had that night. At last Legolas was able to wrench his eyes from the girls, though it was painful to do so, and when he did Earelen gasped in pain and jerked forward slightly. 

"Earelen, are you alright?" Aros asked.

"Was it another vision?" Balar questioned.

"I saw some of what happened to his Naneth," Earelen said in barely a whisper, unable to keep the distress out her voice, "He had a nightmare about it last night."

By this time breakfast was finished, so the three went to talk to the prince.

"You look troubled nin caun." Earelen began.

"'Tis nothing." Replied Legolas, looking up but careful not to make eye contact. Earelen and Balar were Silvan, Earelen had grey eyes, that looked almost silver and Balar had eyes as green as the leaves in spring. Both had light brown hair. Aros on the other hand was part Noldorian, part Sindarin and part Silvan. He had dark brown hair that in dim light would look black. His eyes were blue, like Legolas's own, but were greener than his, for Legolas's eyes were pure blue.

"Nin caun, you're distracted, and aren't eating right," Earelen argued, "I think something is troubling you."

"How is it you read me so well, yet we have never spoken." Legolas said, scowling.

"Looks can do strange things." Earelen said pointedly.

The prince's scowl deepened, but now it was one of sad anger, 

"Indeed, if you'll excuse me, I need to see nin Adar about something." Legolas said curtly, and with that, left the hall. Once in the corridor he ran outside into the forest. When he was in a bit, he climbed a large tree and sobbed silently into the trunk.

Twenty minutes later, Aros, Balar and Earelen found the young prince, and climbed into the tree with him.

"Nin caun?" Balar asked uncertainly.

Legolas turn to the three; tears still streaming down his cheeks, then turned away again.

"Nin caun please," Earelen begged, "You know as well as any, grief can claim an elven life."

"Let us be your friends," Aros pleaded, "Don't bottle up your feelings in front of people the way you do."

"Your family need you, and you need friends to confide in, to be there for you." Balar told him, sincerity in every word. 

Once more Legolas turned to them, but this time spoke in a voice that was sorrow filled and kept breaking,

"You don't understand, the look in her eyes, her voice inside my head, I, I-"

The poor prince could go no further, it was too painful, he broke down in tears, sobbing. Earelen went and put her arm round him, whispering comforting words to him. Once Legolas was able to stop crying he looked up, wiping the tears away from his eyes.

"People are really worried about you nin caun, they fear you might get sick because of your grief." Aros told him.

"You've been so quiet lately, and you haven't been eating right," Balar told him, "Some people even think we might lose you nin caun."

Legolas gave them a small grateful smile and asked,

"Would you be willing to help me through this then? And be my friends? I warn you, I'm not exactly an angel and do get into trouble."

"So do we nin caun, and we would love to help you, you'll really fit in with us."

"Thanks, but on one condition."

"What?" asked Balar curiously.

"You call me Legolas, not "nin caun", that's way too formal for friends."

_A/N- Aros is older than Legolas by a few months, Balar is younger by six months and Earelen is younger by two months._

Translations

Naneth - Mother

Im meleth le - I love you

Nin ion - my son

Namarie - farewell

Nin caun - my prince

Nin Adar - my father


	2. Hide and Seek

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Chap 1 - Hide and Seek.

A/N - Sorry to all those who have read this chapter, I'm reposting, please review! To all those who haven't read this, the other updates shouldn't take this long, it's just I didn't get any reviews till I asked people to read this. So, I got those reviews and then waited to see if I got any more, but I didn't, so now I'm reposting the next few chapters one at a time. This is two years after Legolas and the other three became friends. 

"Be good now, won't you Legolas?" King Thranduil asked his youngest son.

"Yes Adar " the young boy sighed, fingering his child's braid. "But…er"

"What is it?" asked his father

"Can't I come?"

"No nin ion, I'm sorry but you're too little. Namárië."

"Namárië Adar." the young prince waved miserably after his father and brothers.

"Come now Prince Legolas, cheer up. I've never seen you look so down before" commented Arhivil, the elf maiden who looked after Legolas when his father went on trips like this one. 

"I still don't see why I can't go to Imladris." 

Arhivil sighed; they went through this every time, "Your too little nin caun. When you get you warrior braids you'll be able to go. Come now, don't you want to play something?"

Finally Legolas saw his chance to make himself a pest to the maid, mischief glinted in his eyes as he turned to face her, "Can we play hide and seek?"

"Sure" Arhivil answered, "I don't see why not"

"You count first," the little elf said brightly.

Arhivil agreed, turned her back and began to count. Unfortunately she hadn't been paying much attention and didn't see the gleam in the young ones bright, blue eyes.

Legolas ran down corridor after corridor until he finally found what he was looking for, Arhivil's room. Pressing his hand to his mouth to stop himself laughing out loud he entered slowly. He wasn't allowed in Arhivil's room so he knew she'd never look for him in there. He had never come up with a better plan for having fun. Looking around he found all sorts of things. Suddenly he had a brainwave; he would mix everything up. So long as he was careful she wouldn't know until she couldn't find something. He placed bottles from cupboards on the dressing table, bottles from the dressing table in drawers, mixed up the contents of various cupboards and drawers, and continued to do so until he heard Arhivil coming down the corridor. It wouldn't surprise him if she came in for a rest so he dived under the bed, a bottle of perfume from one of the cupboards still in his hand.

Arhivil sighed as she sat down. Sure Legolas was small, but he was so mischievous she wondered why she had said they could play hide and seek. 

"Where are you Legolas?" she muttered to herself, though Legolas heard every word, " I've checked the whole of the top and bottom floors and the Great Hall. Where else is that pesky Prince allowed?"

Legolas shook slightly with silent laughter but not enough to disturb the bed. He heard Arhivil sigh again and leave the room. He rolled over accidentally knocking over the bottle of perfume over, sending clouds of scented smoke around his head. This caused the little prince to choke, unfortunately for him Arhivil's sister, Sarie, was passing.

"Arhivil, are you alright?" Sarie called.

Poor Legolas could hardly get enough air to breath let alone answer. He tried desperately to stop choking but couldn't and because there was no answer Sarie came to investigate.

"Arhivil? Are you in there?" 'Still no answer', Sarie thought, 'what's wrong with her?' "I'm coming in!" 

The last remark made Legolas gasp, making his coughing redouble. He would be found! This room was forbidden. 'I'm in for it now', he though, 'what will I tell her?' Just then Sarie lifted up the cover that went over the side of the bed and found Legolas under there, choking on a cloud of perfume.

"P…Prince Legolas?!?!" she gasped, "What are…I mean…why were…er…I…why are you in here?" 

She was stuttering quite badly, not particularly unusual for her, if she was startled, but Legolas could barely answer through his coughing.

" I was…I…I didn't mean…I though…um-" was all he could get out in between coughing fits.

"Let me help you out from there." the young elf maid said, concern in her voice.

Legolas allowed himself to be helped up and Sarie rubbed his back in a circular motion until the coughing passed.

"Now, what were you doing in here?" she questioned again, inspecting the perfume as she waited for an answer.

"I…in…er" Legolas stammered, 'Flip! What do I tell her', he thought staring at Sarie slightly panicky. Then, 'I have it,' he thought and continued to speak, "I…that is…we…I mean, me and Arhivil, were playing hide and seek, and I…I was hiding and must have took a wrong turn in my…in my excitement."

"Ah! And this perfume, why did you have that?"

"Oh, when I got in I saw it didn't look like the room I was aiming for, and…and…one of the cupboards was ajar and…I…er…looked in and found this. I picked it up to look at but heard Arhivil coming so I hid under the bed and…when she left I turned to go but…I…um…I…knocked the bottle over and started choking when it sent that big cloud around my head."

"You were lucky. This is cloud perfume. It doesn't settle so no one will know about your mistake by the scent. It's mainly for rooms that don't smell nice because the scent remains in the air. The cloud fades after twenty minutes when it's all spread out."

"You…you won't…tell anyone, will you?" Legolas asked giving her such a look that she had to give in.

"OK. If you scamper now. Take the side door, it leads to a parlour but no one's in there."

Legolas ran for all he was worth to get to the Great Hall. Thanking the Valar Sarie was so gullible he skidded to a halt outside a door and pressed his ear to it. No one in, he thought happily, perfect. Creeping in quietly he hide behind a curtain just as the master archer, Dimrost, entered.

"Poor Arhivil" he said to Sirion, his friend, "She went and got herself into a game of hide and seek with little Prince Legolas. He's a horror to find." 

"Mmm. Remember last time it took a week to find him." Sirion replied.

"She told me she would only look for a day this time and then she's going round everywhere telling him she's given up."

"Poor wen." Sirion said shaking his head, "I don't think she realised what she was letting herself in for first time she offered to play."

"Come on. I've got a class to teach in five minutes."

Only one day, thought Legolas. He was quite disappointed but decided to make Arhivil pay for her weakness with a game of tag.

Translations

Adar - father

Nin ion - my son

Nin caun - my prince

Namárië - farewell

Wen - maiden 

REPLIES TO REVIEWS.


	3. Tag

**Chap2**

Some while later Arhivil came in and told the room that she gave up and with that collapsed onto a chair. Legolas, grinning broadly came out quietly and crept behind her.

"I win!" he cried out joyfully, "Let's play another game! I know! Tag! Your 'it'!" 

And with that he tapped Arhivil on the shoulder and ran off.

"Legolas! Come back!" Arhivil cried out after the Legolas but he paid no heed. Then getting up Arhivil tore after him muttering to herself,

"He'll run out of energy soon. He just _has _to."

Legolas was running at full speed to put as much distance between himself and Arhivil as possible. As he ran round the corner he bumped into something very solid.

"Oww!"

It was Earelen, one of his best friends.

"Sorry" Legolas said as he helped her to her feet.

"Earelen?"

Aros and Balar, his other best friends, came round the corner. Legolas greeted them and told them what he was doing.

"Great!" said Aros enthusiastically.

"Can we play?" added Balar.

"Sure. We'll have to wait here for Arhivil though. To tell her you're playing, oh, and don't forget, if she catches you, look as though you're about to cry and moan that you don't want to be 'it' or something-" Legolas told them but was interrupted by Arhivil who came running in.

"Wait!" cried Legolas, as she was about to tag him, "Balar, Aros and Earelen are playing too, so give us a five second head start. Thanks." 

And with that the four young ones ran off. Not waiting, Arhivil ran after Balar who was the slowest, but still very fast.

About two hours later Arhivil was exhausted. She had caught Earelen once, but the little edhelwen looked like she would cry so Arhivil had let her off. Balar had also been caught but he had said it wasn't fair because he was the slowest and would never be able to catch anyone else. 'Two hours was definitely too long to be 'it'', she thought but was interrupted as Legolas ran past just a few meters off. When Legolas saw Arhivil he squeaked and took off again, but as he ran he realised he wouldn't be able to shake her off. Knowing that puppy eyes wouldn't work he desided to take drastic action. He picked up speed but as he did so he pretended this was too much and feigned falling over. Rolling a couple of times so Arhivil wouldn't tread on him he gave a fake gasp as if he was in pain. However, Legolas had perfected this technique and wasn't really hurt. Arhivil came over to him with a worried expression and Legolas clutched his ankle as if he had twisted it. 

"I think we should stop playing tag for the moment" Arhivil said as she knelt down beside Legolas, "Are you going to be OK?"

Legolas nodded "I'll…I'll manage" 

His acting was so good that Arhivil thought he was really hurt.

"Come on," she said, helping the young prince up, "I'll call your friends. Aros! Balar! Earelen!

Earelen and the two boys came out from various places and Legolas gave them meaningful looks. All three of them knew this act and what they must do. They came over making a fuss, asking if Legolas was OK, etc. and went back to the palace. Legolas was limping and Aros was helping him, being a better height for it than Arhivil. Earelen was biting her lip as if she was truly, really quite worried for her friend and Balar was pretending to comfort her. 

When they arrived back at the palace the dinner bell rang so they headed for the Great Hall. At dinner the four little ones, who were sitting at the children's table, told the story of the game of tag to a couple of their friends.

"And then, Arhivil was catching up with Legolas so, because puppy eyes weren't going to work, he took drastic action." Aros said the last two words in a whisper for effect.

"What did he do?" asked Mindeb excitedly.

Legolas merely grinned and continued to eat, letting the others tell the tale.

"Legolas put on this extra burst of speed and then," Balar pause dramatically, "He feigned a fall."

All present gasped and stared awe-struck at Legolas who grinned and said,

"Yep. A feigned fall, not an easy stunt to pull of. Especially when the person you're trying to fool is practically on top of you. I had to roll three or four times so Arhivil didn't land on me."

"He's right," said Teiglin, "I tried it once myself. The person I tried to fool saw through the act and I got pretty bumped as well."

"But didn't you get really hurt then? When you rolled I mean." asked Laurevil.

"If you fall and roll the right way you don't get hurt, so no, I didn't get hurt," answered Legolas in a matter-of-fact tone.

"But you must pretend he really is hurt," Earelen pointed out, "because if he gets discovered then he really will be in trouble."

Legolas listened as the conversation turned this way and that but always on the same themes. Arhivil, tag and fake falls. Just then he saw Arhivil coming over. The feast was over. He kicked Aros hard under the table.

"Oww," Aros said angrily, "What was that for?" 

Legolas jerked his head slightly in Arhivil's direction. Aros's eyes widened. He got the gist. Legolas looked pleadingly at him and Aros began to pass the message down. Looking over at 

Arhivil, Legolas realised the message would never reach everyone in time.

Nimloth realised this as well and when Arhivil was in earshot she asked Legolas,

"How's your ankle? I heard about what happened."

"Much better thanks." He replied giving her a look that meant 'Thank you so much'.

"Come on Legolas," Arhivil said, "We have to go."

Legolas sighed but went with her, limping slightly. The rest of the kids began to leave with their parents' as well. Some muttering,

"Poor Legolas"

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A/N - Mindeb, Laurevil and Nimloth are girls and Teiglin is a boy, all of them are Legolas's friends. 

Sorry I took so long to update! 

Translations

Edhelwen - elf maiden

Thank you very much to all my reviewers!

REPLIES TO REVIEWS

tbiris: Glad you like it. It is quite funny, isn't it?

GettoPixiStixLover: I know, it is cute.

TreeHugger: Elenath sila am le to! Glad to know my story brightens up the day. Yeah, I suppose you're right, poor Arhival.


	4. the AA's

**Chap3**

The next day, to be on the safe side, Legolas didn't do anything that would give away the fact he had faked the fall. He mainly did archery practice with his friends. Aros wanted to join the important hunts when he was older so didn't mind practising. Balar was desperate to get his warrior braids as early as he could and Earelen wanted to do better than her sister, Lothriel, at something. Lothriel didn't want to be an archer so this was Earelen's best chance to shine at something her sister didn't. 

"The brave warrior of Mirkwood strikes again," Legolas teased, "along with his friend the great hunter."

"Shut up you or it'll be your head in the centre of my wall rather than Nimrais*." Aros said warningly."

"Save me, please. Someone, the big scary hunter's coming to get me." Legolas retorted sarcastically.

"No fighting now." Earelen said stopping the boys in mid tease-fight.

"Does anyone else feel this isn't challenging?" asked Balar in a depressed voice.

"How about moving targets?" Legolas suggested.

"I'll get the A.A's!" (Annoyance Arrows) Earelen said excitedly. 

Ten minutes later the foursome were hiding in various places around a garden path waiting for someone to come by. Legolas was hiding in a position that wouldn't give away that his ankle wasn't really hurt, Earelen was on a porch roof, Aros was on the main roof and Balar was in a tree. The first person to come by was Astaldo, the gardener. Not knowing that Legolas and his friends were there, he sat on one of the benches to wait for Mithril, his wife. Earelen realised that Astaldo was waiting for someone and signalled to the others to wait. Five more minutes went by before Mithril arrived and when Astaldo stood to greet her each of the young ones began to fire at them.

"Ow! Oh! I know your there little caun!" Mithril said angrily; she had been subject to these attacks before, "You just stop it right now or I'll-" 

Astaldo, who had also been a previous victim, cut her words short.

"Mithril!" he called, "Come on, let's get out of the line of fire!"  
The four little ones kept firing until the older elves were out of reach and then went to collect their arrows. They were all laughing happily as they talked about the results.

"I got Astaldo on the cheek!" Aros chortled, "you should have seen his face!"  
"I got Mithril on the nose!" giggled Earelen.

"I got her in the ear." said Balar, when he could stop laughing.

Legolas grinned evily as he said, "Well I got Astaldo in the centre of his forehead."

They soon went back to their hiding places and got several more victims before Dimrost caught them when they were picking up the arrows. The master archer found it very hard not to laugh as he took them inside.

"Come along Legolas," Dimrost said impatiently as the young elf kept lagging behind, "You can't get away today, even if your Adar isn't here, he can still be told."  
"But I can't," Legolas complained, "I fell over yesterday and hurt my ankle."  
Dimrost raised his eyebrows and Balar said,

"It wasn't too bad, but he can't do anything too, well, you know what I mean, exuberant, until it's less sore, but at this rate of improvement I think Legolas will be back to his old self the day after tomorrow."

When the four little ones reached the great hall they found everyone who they had shot standing in there. Balar gulped, this was not good. Dimrost smiled and turning to the four young ones said,

"I think you have something to say."

"Sorry." Legolas mumbled with his head down and hand behind his back so that only his friends knew he had crossed his fingers.

"Sorry" the other three said, also crossing their fingers.   
Earelen traced the pattern on the floor with her foot and she and the boys kept their heads hung, as if in shame. They looked so pathetic that all the victims of the A.A's felt all anger melt from them and said things like,

"It's OK."  
"They are only children, they were probably just bored."

"Go on you four," Dimrost told them, "Out and play."  
When they were out of earshot of the Great Hall they sighed with relief.

"Well," said Legolas, "Getting in trouble won't matter so much. At least we got Arhivil before we were caught."

"And got a laugh at their faces." added Aros.

_A/N- *Nimrais means white horns, it is the name of the white stag of Mirkwood (my own creation)_

*A.A - Annoyance Arrows. They are like arrows but instead of a point the have a small bundle of leaves and grass tied in a piece of material that is attached to the end of the arrow where the point would be. (Also mine)

Translations

Adar - father

Caun - prince

REPLIES TO REVIEWS

SiriusBlack: Thanks. I'm glad you like the use of Elvish. There may be a few mistakes but I try to be as accurate as possible. Glad you like the story.

tbiris: Well I'm glad you find it funny. I thought it was too actually, anyway, glad you like it.

TreeHugger: Yeah, I guess I would stick to 'Poor Arhival' as well. Yes, I think a scamp is a good way to describe the little pesky prince. You say he knows all the tricks in the book? Well of course he does! This is me writing here, I mean, look at the pen name. Anyway, glad you like it and find it funny.


	5. Duck Duck Goose and Spider Baiting

**Chap4**

It was finally time that Legolas could stop pretending to be in pain. Admittedly, the day before he had be walking normally but still couldn't run, however today he could run and climb and do all sorts. Balar had had another idea for how they could make pests of themselves; they would play 'duck duck goose'. (If you've never played the rules are at the bottom of the chapter.)

Soon a group of little elves was rounded up. Earelen got Mindeb, Laurevil, Nimloth and Lalaith; Aros brought Teiglin and Thalos, with Balar came Celon* and Ecthelion; and Agarwaen, Brithon and Lindon came with Legolas. 

"Now," Legolas told them, "You all know what to do. If Arhivil catches you, make up some reason why you shouldn't be 'it', if that fails, catch one of the fastest of our group and they will catch Arhivil. Do you all understand?"

The rest of the group nodded and Earelen ran off to fetch Arhivil. By the time she returned the rest of the little ones had sat down in a circle leaving a space for Earelen.

"Last one to the space is 'it'!" Thalos called out as the rest of the group began to shuffle about watching happily as Arhivil ran, desperately trying not to be 'it'. However, Earelen just stood and waited for the space to come to her and sat down calmly when it came. Arhivil glowered at them but consented to be 'it'. After a whole hour of duck duck goose Arhivil was 'it'. She had caught plenty of little ones, some she had given into, other she hadn't but they had always gone for Legolas who would let them back into their space and then catch her. Now she was 'it' and had a plan.

"Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck" Arhivil kept going round till she reached Legolas then, "GOOSE!"

Arhivil ran as fast as she could but the young prince was gaining and he had the advantage, he was fresh and had an abundance of energy, whereas she was tired and low on energy but still she ran, round the circle, the space was near but-

"GOTCHYA!" Legolas cried triumphantly as he grabbed her, but the speed they were both at caused Arhivil to fall bringing Legolas with her. The whole group gasped in unison as Legolas was thrown over the top of Arhivil and rolled over five times before coming to a halt.

"Legolas!" Earelen cried out, eyes wide with real fear for her friend.

Aros and Balar were beside him in an instant. Legolas sat up slowly and reassured those present that he was OK. Arhivil was becoming suspicious about the last fall, if he wasn't hurt now how come he got hurt then. She began to question him but he interrupted her.

"Because last time my ankle twisted under me and that caused my fall. This time I was merely thrown." he explained.

Arhivil nodded but still wasn't completely sure. The children were beginning to settle back down for the next round of the game but Arhivil told them it was time to stop. Just as she finished telling them they should make their way back to their homes it began to rain.

The rain continued for two days. Legolas spent most of the time with his three closest friends making fake spiders and fake webs to go with them. They enjoyed themselves immensely but whenever someone came in the room they had to hide their work. When they did this to Dimrost, the mere sight of supposedly innocent crafts was enough to make him suspicious. 'Those four are up to something,' he thought, 'they never make anything innocent except practical things like arrows.' The master archer studied the little ones hard before he left them in peace. When the rain cleared up all the children poured outside. They all wanted fresh air and room to run about. Legolas, Aros, Balar and Earelen were no exception but they had a plan of what they would do, Spider Baiting. However, just as they set out to leave Arhivil turned up.

"Oh no you don't," Arhivil's voice came across the garden in such a command that the four of them stopped and turned, "Where exactly do you think you're going."

"Into the forest," came the innocent reply from Legolas and when he sounded innocent something was amiss.

"Not without an adult you don't."

"Will you come with us then?" Earelen asked.

"We're off for a bit of Spider Baiting." added Balar.

Aros elbowed him in the side and muttered, "Shut up. No ones supposed to know."

"Sp…spider," Arhivil gulped, "Spider Baiting?"

"Unless your coming with us can you leave us alone," Aros said exasperatedly, "It's not like we're doing anything dangerous."

"Yeah," Legolas said frowning, "Anyway, now you know we doing you should know we've done it for ages and never been bitten."

"Oh come on," Earelen said, getting impatient, "Lets go."

The four little ones marched off but Arhivil was after them in a second and much to their delight, insisted on coming. Things were going perfectly to plan. The five elves went deep into the forest, the four young ones listening intently. Thick (fake) spider webs covered the trees and on one particularly thickly cover tree they halted. After a quick look around Legolas darted up, his friends followed suit but Arhivil stayed on the ground. Earelen then began to sing, a slow creepy tune, high on the scale and the others joined in. Aros sung a slow, low part and Legolas and Balar a fast medium part. They looked at each other in excitement as they heard a spider approach (on the opposite side of the tree to Arhivil) Grinning broadly, Aros through some acorns down (they were in an oak tree) and they hit the spider square on the head. The others sung louder and also chucked acorns down, aggravating the massive arachnid. With legs a meter in length, it went quickly round the tree to find an easier place to climb. As the little elves fitted arrows into their bows (proper ones, not A.A's) they heard a scream from below. Legolas gasped in delight and with eyes wide and twinkling jumped into the lower branches of the tree to help Arhivil. All was going perfectly.

Arhivil screamed in terror, but this only angered the spider further, "HELP! SOMEONE!"

All four of the younger elves were now in the lower branches and preparing to fire. They did so, hurting the spider, but still it continued towards Arhivil, who screamed again. The spider bore down upon her baring its fangs, Legolas gasped and jumping down from the tree unsheathed his dagger and ran at the spider shouting, "Bad spider! Down boy! Down!"

And then to Arhivil's amazement, the spider backed away and reached up to its head and pulled it off revealing Teiglin. All but Arhivil burst out laughing. When they had stopped laughing Balar said, "You didn't think we really went Spider Baiting did you?"

"That would be suicide." Aros said with a smile.

Arhivil glared at them, turned around and went back to the palace muttering to herself. Teiglin also bade them farewell and returned home. 

"Now for the real Spider Baiting," Legolas said with a grin, "Lets go."

_A/N- Yes Legolas and his friends really do Spider Bait and they have been doing it for ages, Legolas told the truth there. The costume was so thick that the four young ones arrows didn't hurt Teiglin  
  
Spider Baiting_

You climb a tree, but one with no webs on it, and sing insulting tunes about spiders and they come. When they arrive you throw rocks or things like that at them and you can also fire A.A's to get them annoyed. You also don't use short knives, it too dangerous. You have to use long ones.

Duck Duck Goose

One person is 'it' and everyone else sits in a circle. The person who is 'it' goes round and taps everyone on the head saying 'duck' when they touch them. When they say 'goose' to a person they have to run all the way round the circle and try and get to the 'goose's' space before the 'goose' catches them.

REPLIES TO REVIEWS

JastaElf: I'm glad you liked it! Well here's more.

TreeHugger: Glad you liked it. I have to agree, they are wicked little elfling, but will they get away with it? just wait and see when Thranduil comes home. Well, elflings must stick together, but they are cute and clever in insincerity and getting out of trouble. Hope you like this chapter as much! 


	6. Thranduil Returns

**Chap5**

The rest of the time passed without much incident. Legolas and his friend were off Spider Baiting most of the time, although unknown to them, Arhivil had followed them many times into the forest and had every intention of telling Thranduil. It was no small feat to spy on the young ones, especially when they were listening extra hard, so Arhivil had to use every ounce of cunning she possessed to sneak after them. The last day before Thranduil arrived home Arhivil followed Legolas again, but this time was different. This time they were in real danger.

When they got to the Spider Baiting clearing the young ones thought today would be just another day, but when the spider arrived, it was one they had tormented in it's childhood; but now it was a youth, not a baby. As the four Elves turn to run into the trees it fired a web, but unlike the other spiders it kept hold of one end. The web caught Earelen on the ankle. She ran on, thinking that the spider wouldn't hold the other end, but as she ran the web went taut (spiders webs will stretch a little but not much) and she was pulled over. She cried out in surprise and the boys turned to see the spider bearing down on the trapped Earelen.

"Earelen!" cried Balar in fear.

Legolas however, after a split second of thought, charged toward Earelen and before the spider could reach her was able to cut the web. Helping Earelen to he feet, Legolas took off, Earelen in tow. Aros and Balar too turned and ran but the spider was after them like a whirlwind. Arhivil ran after the young ones and the spider, knowing that she couldn't show herself, but that they needed help. On and on they ran, but always in a purposeful direction, toward the palace. When they finally reached the small area of building that surrounded the palace, the four young Elves were nearly spent but seeing that safety was near they kept running. One of the archers saw them and immediately ran for his bow and fellows. When the spider came in range the band of archers fired, and after many arrows the beast keeled over, dead. A few Elves came running toward where the young prince and his friends stood, Legolas was supporting Earelen, who was so scared she looked as though she would faint. The spider had come so close to _killing_ her. Aros was bent over hands on knees, panting and Balar was leaning against a wall.

Later that day when the young ones were inside talking, Arhivil went to Dimrost to talk to him about the little Prince.

"I've been spying on them for days now and they're really putting themselves in danger. Thranduil must be informed," Arhivil told the master archer, "For their safety as much as ours. Then again, I think they may stop now anyway. After what happened today"  
"I hope so for their sake, Thranduil is not going to be happy about this," Dimrost answered, "but I praise you for your spying. It's not easy to spy on them without them noticing."  
"In that you are correct. It's even harder when they're listening with all their might for spiders."

"What are you going to tell Thranduil? You'll have to break it to him slowly." Dimrost pointed out.

"I don't know," Arhivil admitted, "Would you help? You have some experience in these sorts of matters."

"Alright."  
"Thank you," Arhivil said gratefully, "at least Thranduil comes back tommorow so I won't have much time to worry about what I'll say."

"I must go now. I promised your sister I would help her with her new bow."

Arhivil smiled and they parted. Then she turned down towards where she had told the pesky young ones to wait. They were going to get a right talking to by her today and Thranduil tomorrow, only they weren't to know that she knew that they had been Spider Baiting.

Next day when Arhivil went to find the young Prince, he and his young friends were nowhere to be found. She groaned. Apparently they had not learnt their lesson. Thranduil was due to arrive in a matter of hours, what would she tell him if she didn't know where Legolas had gone? She searched for about two hours, but in vain. Spider Baiting no doubt, she thought bitterly to herself. What if one of them was bitten! Would she be held responsible? Thranduil was due to arrive at mid day, in one hour! What if she hadn't found them? The hour passed all too quickly for Arhivil, and soon Thranduil was there. She had to appear before him with Dimrost and Legolas but Legolas still hadn't returned. She went in nervously with Dimrost and the king greeted them.

"Arhivil, Dimrost," He said smiling, but then his smile faltered a little as he said, "But where is Prince Legolas?"  
"Yes, were is the little pest?" asked Gelion, Thranduil's second son.

"And what havoc has he be wreaking in our absence?" Aegnor said in a what-has-he-done-this-time kind voice. He was the eldest and tried to pretend that he was tired of Legolas' pranks, but it was common knowledge he thought that they were good for a laugh.

Thranduil turned and frowned at his elder sons. They had caused just as much trouble when they were younger. His elder sons always stood at either side of his throne so it was impossible to frown at the both at the same time. (This was the precise reason for standing where they did.)

Dimrost shook his head slightly at the memory of Gelion and Aegnor as little ones, running about, causing havoc, but neither of them had done anything this dangerous before.

"Only a few small tricks, an A.A attack and a couple of fixed games," Dimrost said, "He was pretty well behaved nin Aran."  
"For Legolas." Added Arhivil.

"Lets start with the fixed games, then tricks and then how many he managed to shoot." Said Thranduil with a sigh. 

"Well their fix was the game of hide and seek-" began Arhivil but was interrupted by Gelion.

"You got yourself into a game of hide and seek with Legolas! I thought you knew better than that."  
Arhivil glared at Gelion as she continued, "But I decided one day was long enough to look for him and gave up after that. There was a game of 'duck, duck, goose' and then there was tag. Aros, Balar and Earelen ended up playing and it would have gone on all day, with me being 'it' all the time I might add, if Legolas hadn't-" she broke off wondering how to put it.

"If Legolas hadn't what?" asked Thranduil, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"Well…he…er…" Arhivil said uncertainly, "He just…fell over…or tripped. I'm not really sure which."

"Now that does _not_ sound like Legolas." Aegnor said.

"And the tricks?" Thranduil prompted.

"I think that may have been a fake fall but apart from that there were only a couple of little harmless ones, but he and his friends did get, how many was it?" Dimrost said.

"Thirty-six," Arhivil said, "And I was one of them."

"Thirty-six!" exclaimed Thranduil, "I think that a record. But he's been ok then? In general I mean.

"Sort of." Arhivil said hesitantly. 

"Sort of?" Thranduil asked, eyebrows raised, not sure he wanted the answer.

"Nin Aran, he…he goes…he goes Spider Baiting." said Arhivil and waited for the words to sink in.

"Spider Baiting?" asked Thranduil, as if checking that he had heard right.

Arhivil nodded and Dimrost gave her a little nudge telling her not to go on. It could wait. Thranduil sighed, 'Spider Baiting,' he thought, 'what on earth could drive him to do that', then a realisation struck him, what if Legolas took his friends?

"He didn't take Aros, Balar and Earelen, did he?"  
Arhivil nodded again. Legolas was in so much trouble.

"Aegnor, Gelion?"

"Yes Adar." The boys answered in unison.

"Go with Dimrost and Arhivil and try and find you're brother will you. I must see to something."

"Yes Adar." They said again.

Some time later Legolas had been found and Thranduil was informed. As they entered the throne room Thranduil stopped dead. All over his throne room were spider webs, and in the centre of the room, on the throne no less, was a spider. At the look on his father's face Legolas tried not to laugh too hard but he couldn't keep the adult elves from seeing his grin.

"Legolas." Thranduil thundered dangerously.

That wiped the smile from the young prince's face.

"What is this?" Thranduil asked angrily.

"I…er…that is…um…I." Legolas, faced with his father's anger, was lost for words.

Arhivil could tell this was not going to be good.

After Thranduil had half shouted, half lectured Legolas for ten minutes, the young prince was pleading with his father, who was greatly angered by his sons lack of responsibility.

"You were completely irresponsible and what's worse, you put your friends in danger!" Thranduil finished, angry and disappointed.

"But Adar, I didn't mean-"  


"You didn't think!" Thranduil said loudly in his anger, but not shouting, "Any of you could've been bitten! And you show even more how little you think about danger by covering the throne room in webs! You-"  


"They're not _real_ webs!" cried Legolas, "And it was just a joke!"

"Joke or not, spiders settle in groups and if they thought one had settled here," Thranduil suppressed a shudder, "have you any idea how much trouble that would cause?" 

"Adar, I didn't think that-"  
  
"No Legolas, the problem is that you don't think about the consequences. You don't think about what might happen. If you ever do something like this again, especially Spider Baiting, you will be in so much trouble you'll wish you'd never be born. Now, you are going to clean up this mess and destroy those webs and that spider. After that, we will discuss your punishment."

Thranduil left the hall with Aegnor, Gelion, Dimrost and Arhival following. Legolas sighed heavily and went to get things to clear up the throne room. He felt awful; he hated to hear his father disappointed with him. As Legolas began to clean up, he suddenly thought, 'Oh no! What if Adar tells Aros', Balar's and Earelen's parents? What would happen to their foursome? I must stop that at all costs, even if it means I'm punished in their places. I'd rather get extra punishment than lose my friends.'

Translations

Nin Aran - my king

Adar - father

REPLY TO REVIEW

TreeHugger: Thank you for reviewing. glad you like it. Well, of course Legolas is fast, he's wonderful at everything! (except being innocent!) Yeah, I guess I am a bit mean to Arhival. I'll try to be a bit nicer, though I can't say anything for Legolas and and his friends, they may not want to be. You're probably right though, he probably should have twisted his ankle for real, would have served him right and Dimrost did have every reason to be suspicious about them being good, who wouldn't be? I was originally going to be a real spider that cornered Arhival but I changed my mind. Well, i hope you like this chapter as much.


	7. Judgement and Sentence

Chap 6

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A/N - Just a warning, this chapter is a bit slow, but the next one will be more exciting (I hope!)

Legolas pulled the last fake web from the throne, the tidying had taking longer than he'd thought it would. He sighed and shook his head, staring at the bundle of fake webs on the floor. They had put so much work into them, so much time and effort. Just then Legolas remembered that his father had said they would discuss his punishment once he had cleaned up the throne room, as if that hadn't been a punishment in itself, being so boring without anyone to talk to. So, the young prince hurried from the room and ran down the corridor till he reached his father's formal study.

King Thranduil had two studies, a formal one for all the kingly stuff he did, like paper work, meeting people for discussions about things, and one for personal study, and reading, etc. Legolas now entered the formal study and stood in front of his father's desk, there was a large table with several chairs around it to his left and a set of shelves standing next to a small bookcase and a set of filing drawers on his right. Thranduil himself sat behind the desk, elbows leaning on it with the tips of his finger together, tops of his index's just touching his lips. When Legolas came in, his father had stared hard at him for a while, but before he could say anything to his son, the young prince interrupted with a plea.

"Please Adar, if you haven't already told Aros', Balar's and Earelen's parents about us Spider Baiting, please, please don't tell them!"

"Legolas, your friends parents have a right to know what you've been doing, don't you understand how serious this is?" Thranduil said with a sigh.

"But Adar," Legolas begged, "They might not let my friends see me again."

"It might keep you all out of trouble for a while," the king replied, feeling a smile tug at his lips at the thought of Legolas staying out of trouble, "And that would be a bit of a relief for most and good for everyone I think." 

At this Thranduil glanced over at Arhival and Dimrost who stood at the side of the room. 

"I doubt you've ever been more right nin Aran." Dimrost said with a smile pulling threateningly at his lip even though the situation was so serious.

"But Adar!" Legolas cried out, distress showing clearly in his voice, "Please, Adar I need them! I need them." The last sentence was said in barely more then a whisper as the little prince bowed his head.

"Legolas." Thranduil said, and catching his son's attention, signalled him to come round the desk to where he sat. 

  
Legolas came, and Thranduil took his youngest son's small hands in his own and looked into the little elf's pure, crystal blue eyes, 'so much like Ailiel's eyes' Thranduil couldn't help thinking, then he asked, 

"What do you min nin ion? How is it that you need them?"

"When," Legolas swallowed at the lump in his throat. Even now, after he had put it all behind him, and found comfort in the thought that his mother could live a life free of sorrow in the Halls of Mandos, he still found it hard to talk about her, he still found it painful. The young prince swallowed again and continued, "When Naneth died. When she died, I no close friends, no one to lean on. I knew you had many burdens being Aran and everything, and I didn't want to give you another burden to carry. So I had no one, but Aros, Balar and Earelen, they took pity on me, and a while after Naneth's, Naneth's death, they asked if I wanted them as friends, so they could help me. They are now taur tol that I may fall back on in troubled times."

As Thranduil gazed at his son he realised the bond that the young prince shared with his friends, a bond that could only come from relying on each other fully, from sharing their hearts, and their souls. Legolas had friends with like-souls to his own, Thranduil knew he could not separate them, no caring person would. 

"Alright," Thranduil conceded, "I will not tell your friends' parents about the Spider Baiting, but what else could merit such a punishment that I will be forced to give you?"

Arhival cleared her throat and stepped forward slightly before saying, "If I may make a suggestion your majesty."

Thranduil nodded so she continued.

"Before I discovered en tithen caun and his friends Spider Baited, they tricked me into following them into the forest where they made a show of Spider Baiting and one of their friends came along dressed up as a spider. So, you could say they pretended to Spider Bait and then they set up that fake spider in your throne room."

"Very well, I shall roll the punishments into one, for those were two very serious crimes. Arhival, would you please fetch Legolas' friends, their parents may come if they wish."

So Arhival walked swiftly from the room to fetch the little prince's three friends.

Arhival quickly came to the side entrance of the palace where there was a lovely avenue, a sort of indoors outdoors place. There were quite a few paths like this around this side of the palace, the paths were generally paved with stone or wood, but some had no paving and were simply grass paths. Each path was lined with beautifully carved pillars of stone and wood, many stories were depicted by symbols along these paths upon the pillars. The pillars, in their turn, supported the roofs of the paths. The coverings were beautiful painted canvas and wood carved with designs of animals, trees, plants and elves, and draped with various flowers and leaves. This outside bit of the palace showed the nature of the woodland elves beautifully. It had been designed to join the tree houses (that the silvan folk had lived in before Oropher had come over from the westenlands of Middle-Earth and become king of their land) to each other and to the palace. The palace had originally been built to resemble the halls of some great elven lord in Beleriand, but also to provide a safe stronghold against the evil creatures of Morgoth. The strength of the palace was appreciated now more than ever, because of the evil that had invaded Southern Mirkwood, the Necromancer, in his tower of Dol Guldor on the hill Amon Lanc. Most of the elves of Mirkwood lived in the palace now, but there were some that still lived in their treetop homes. All however ate in the palace, even those who lived outside it, but even they came into the palace at winter, when darkness was longer and evil wondered more freely. But there was plenty of room, often new rooms were built, delved deeper into the earth, for the levels above ground were made of stone and could not be reshaped. The tree houses were very different to the palace, built high aloft in the branches of great trees, made completely out of wood, designed and shaped for secrecy, this was there best defence. These houses were not entirely unlike those of Lorien, curved and slanting walls and ceilings, with a large hole in the centre of a room for the main entrance, with rope ladders coming down from them for entry. The ladders could be withdrawn into the house if it came under attack and that meant no enemy could enter that way. Each house also had a couple of larger windows that could be used to climb out onto the tree to exit that way; none of the windows had any glass in though. Both Balar's and Earelen's families lives outside, being of Silvan families they preferred it to the palace. Aros' family lived within however. Aros' grandfather was a Noldorian exile from Valinor, and when he had returned to Middle-Earth he had fallen in love with a Sindarin maiden and together they had come with Oropher to Greenwood (as Mirkwood had been called in those days). They had had a son, who in his turn had fallen in love with a Silvan, but she had agreed to live in the palace with him, for that was where he had been born and lived out his childhood. 

So, Arhival headed for Balar's home first (as it was nearer to the palace than Earelen's), quickly scaled the ladder, and poked her head though the hole.

"Sorry to interrupt Serni, but is Balar around at all?" Arhival asked as Balar's mother turned around to look at her.

"Yes he is," Serni answered, "But am I correct in making the assumption that if you wish to see Balar, you wish to see Earelen and Aros as well?"

"Yes, you are. Thranduil would like a word."

Two more elves entered from another room then, laughing,

"Why does that not surprise me?" Quellecristiel, Earelen's mother, asked merrily.

"Seeing as you're looking for those three, Arhival, which I must say you were quite often while Thranduil was away, you've come to the right place, as they're all here." Indis, Aros' mother, added with a smile.

At that moment the three elflings in question walked in, but stopped dead at the sight of Arhival, who merely smiled knowingly at them.

"Um, Naneth," Earelen began, eyes lingering on Arhival for a moment before turning to her mother, "We were, we were just going out to get Legolas. We'll see you later."

"I think not nin palantir mir, Thranduil wishes to speak with you," Quellecristiel replied lightly, "and undoubtedly, that means Legolas too."

Earelen swallowed, but she couldn't see a way out of it, and by the looks on the boys' faces, neither could they.

"Ok." Balar said simply, "We're coming."

"Oh, just before I forget," Arhival said quickly to the three mothers, "en Aran said you may join us if you wish."

"Thank you but I think I'll decline," said Serni, "Personally, I don't want to see the king in a bad mood." 

"Me neither thanks," agreed Indis, "I've heard a bit about Thranduil's shouting, and if it's as loud as described, I'd rather not gain first-hand experience."

"You've already had it though," Quellecristiel pointed out, "when Thranduil's shouts carry and when he yells outside. I think I'll come, I'd like to see how Thranduil deals with little pests such as these."

So the three young ones and Quellecristiel followed Arhival back to the palace. The three little ones kept glancing at each other with worried expressions, not daring to say anything. What if Thranduil had some how found out about the Spider Baiting? What would happen to them if he had? Would they be separated? What would their parents say when they found out? Questions like these were racing round the trio's heads until the reached Thranduil's formal study. 

When they entered, just as always, they found the that the room seemed foreboding, with its dark wood furniture, its deep green walls, carpet and curtains. Quellecristiel's first impression however, was how lush the room seemed, but then again, she wasn't there to be punished.

Arhival returned to her place at the side of the room next to Dimrost, and Quellecristiel joined them at Thranduil's indication. Thranduil himself was seated at his desk and Legolas came to join his friends before his father, from the shadows beside the bookcase. 

Thranduil leaned back into his chair and sighed, studying the four young elves before him. It really was hard to stay angry with them for long, the king shook his head and began, 

"You realise, that due to the reports of your behaviour while I was away in Imladris, you four are going to end up with several punishments of varying degrees of severity."

The four little elves nodded glumly.

"First, let us take into the A.A attack, I believe you got, what was it, thirty five people-"

Before he could stop himself Legolas interrupted, "Thirty six actually! We-" He stopped short, realising what he was doing.

"Tells you their aim and ability not to get caught is getting better," Quellecristiel said with a small smile, "Well done Dimrost, your archery lessons must working." 

Dimrost had to work very hard to stifle a chuckle, but he couldn't help a small smile. Thranduil shook his head again with a small sigh and glanced over at the three elves standing at the side before continuing.

"Ok, the A.A attack, you got thirty six people and you managed to get away with it at the time, for my part, I'm surprised some of them didn't try and strangle you. But anyway," Thranduil cleared his throat, "your punishment for that. Let me see, what will keep you four out of trouble?"

"Not much." Came Arhival's voice from the side.

Thranduil shot her a glance before Quellecristiel stepped forward slightly, "If I may your majesty?" Thranduil nodded so she continued, "I couldn't help but notice that some of the silverware looked although it needed a polish, the only thing is, I can't remember which set or pieces need it. Maybe the young ones could help us there." 

"Good idea," Thranduil complimented the maiden before turning to the little ones, "You four can polish _all_ the sets of silverware. That should keep you out of trouble for a while. Now, on to the fixed games and the tricks."

"They were only little tricks Adar, just trivial things. Surely you can't mean to punish us for having a little bit of fun a livening things up a bit, it was getting really dull with all the rain." Legolas pleaded, his face working to complete the effect beautifully.

"Legolas, I do mean to punish you, and I will. I believe Dimrost was looking for some helpers for clearing up after the archery lessons, were you not my friend?"  
"Indeed I was sire."

"You four may help your archery teacher. Thirdly, I believe that you tricked Arhival into following you into the forest by pretending you went Spider Baiting."

Aros swallowed hard, Balar bit his lip, willing himself to remain calm, Earelen stared fearfully from Thranduil to her mother and Legolas merely stared miserably at his feet.

"Spider Baiting!" Quellecristiel gasped, "They don't really, do they?"

"Not that I know of, though I believe they have more sense than that." Thranduil replied giving the four a pointed look that plainly meant, 'I know what you did and I wont tell but if you do it again, your dead', "However, I not quite finished. When they had Arhival in the wood, they kept up their little act, and made a show of baiting a spider to them by singing something. One of their friends then arrived in a spider costume. When Arhival found out it was a ploy, she returned to the palace. So, for that, you four are not allowed into the forest to play until further notice. And to make sure you don't, you will have an adult supervisor looking after you until I feel you've been punished enough. Also, every night after the evening meal for a month, you are on dishwashing duty."

The four pairs of eyes that had been on the king while he gave the sentence dropped to stare at the ground when the judgement had been passed. Polishing the silver, helping Dimrost after lessons and now this? Not allowed into the forest at all! But there was more coming.

"Fourth, and thankfully finally, for my return, you decided to have some fun and redecorate the throne room for me, with spider webs."

Once more, Legolas interrupted before he could stop himself; "They weren't _real_ spider webs Adar!"

Thranduil cleared his throat, effectively silencing the young prince, before saying, "Legolas, do you want this to be worse than it has to be?"

"No Adar." Legolas replied quietly with his head bowed once more.

"Good, would you mind letting me continue then?" The king paused for a moment and then continued, "So, as I'm sure all of you know how dangerous that could have been, and even if you didn't think about then that you realise it now, I believe I have a fitting punishment for you."

The four young ones turned their eyes upon the king once more, silently pleading with him not to be too harsh on them.

"And that punishment will be, stable duty. For a fortnight."

The last sentence seemed to hang in the air. A fortnight on stable duty! It wouldn't have been too bad had they had no other punishments, but that combined with the other three. It looked like they weren't going to have any fun for a _very_ long time. 

The four young ones filed out after Dimrost and Arhival, but Thranduil wanted to talk to Quellecristiel, who was amazed at how bold the little prince had been, answering back to his father.

"Quellecristiel," he began with a sigh, "Have you noticed anything strange about what Legolas, Aros, Balar and Earelen share in their friendship?"

"No, is there something wrong nin Aran?" Quellecristiel said with an edge of worry in her voice.

"No, nothing is wrong. But you are wondering why I didn't keep them apart for a time, as many other parents would have."

"True, I did wonder at your decision sire. Why was it you chose not to?"

"They share a strange friendship Quellecristiel, deeper and stronger than most. They have like-souls Quellecristiel, they have come to rely on each other and share their hearts. I could not part them; I could not see them fall into misery with the loss of each other. They need each other." 

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A/N - Ta da! What do you think? I know there wasn't that much of the pesky foursome in this chapter, sorry. The next chapter should be more exciting. Don't forget to review! 

A/N- I've thought up an age system for the elves. This is to do with growing up. (see after translations)

Translations

Adar - father

Nin Aran - my king

Nin ion - my son

Naneth - mother

Taur tol - forest rock

En tithen caun - the little prince

En Aran - the king

Nin palantir mir - my farsighted jewel

Years Lived - Equivalent Human Age

0 - 0

3 - 1

6 - 2

9 - 3

12 - 4

15 - 5

20 - 6

25 - 7

30 - 8

35 - 9

40 - 10

50 - 11

60 - 12

70 - 13

80 - 14

90 - 15

100 - 16

110 - 17

120 - 18

130 - 19

140 - 20

150 - 21

__

So, elves in my verse come of age and are fully-grown at the equivalent to 21, or at 150.


	8. Of Punishments and Pipeweed

Of Punishments and Pipeweed

A/N - This is a week after the foursome have been given their punishments. Just so you know, this chapter is a bit long. I'll try to make them shorter in the future.

Dimrost entered the clearing of an archery range. A line of twenty or so targets stood at the far end. A group of young elflings stood in little gaggles of friends, chatting and holding mini competitions for the best singer, fastest runner, etc. Dimrost couldn't hold back a smile at the sight of them. They had started training since about age nine (the equivalent to three), some had progressed much quicker than others had. This was Dimrost's level two class. Levels took children anywhere between four and five years, and each month Dimrost would review the classes to see if anyone was ready to move onto the next level.

The levels were set by what bow you were on. Each level had two bows. To move up a bow took two to two and a half years. The higher the level of bow, the tighter the string, and the higher the class, the more difficult the tasks.

Once a child could do a certain amount, they were moved onto the next level. Dimrost felt that some of the level two group were either ready to move up a bow or class, but he had to check.

"Alright you lot!" the master archer barked, "Playtime's over now, all go and get yourself a practice archery set!"

Immediately the kids hurried over to the pile of practice bows, arrows and quivers. They were miniatures of normal archery kits. There were two types of bow, the normal bow, and the war bow. Real war bows had blades on the top part, between the grip and the tip. This meant that soldiers didn't have to change from bow to sword when it came to close combat.

Once all the young ones had a bow in hand and a quiver with twelve arrows strapped to their backs, Dimrost gave his orders,

"Right, you all know your tasks. I'm going to review you one by one. I'll start with those on first bows. Ninde, you first."

Ninde walked over to the master archer for her test, she knew well what she had to do. Taking position, she began. Meanwhile, the others stood and talked quietly so as not to disturb her. Once she was done, the next first bow child was called, and it went on like this, until all the first bows were finished.

"Second bows be ready please!" Dimrost called over to the group of children, "Nimloth, you first."

Legolas sat with his friends talking about the punishments they were being forced to do. Yesterday's work had left the four of them stiff and sore. Silently, each was praying that it didn't mess up their performance in their test. All of them really wanted to get onto level three. Teiglin walked past them to do his test and they smiled encouragingly at him. Mindeb was next, then Laurevil, and then,

"Legolas!"

"Good luck!" Earelen said quickly as Legolas walked over to Dimrost.

"Why so nervous Legolas? You of all people really needn't be worried." Dimrost said to the prince with a smile.

Legolas merely gave the master archer a weak smile and hoped Dimrost was right.

"Right, when you're ready."

Legolas began, each task he performed as best he could, gaining confidence along the way. His sore hands didn't hinder him too much, once or twice they ached quite badly but he kept going and it passed. After he had performed all the tasks Legolas turned to Dimrost, hoping to see an answer in his eyes, but the Silvan archer's eyes were unreadable. Dimrost went and looked at where each arrow had landed on the target and carefully jotted down some notes on the paper he had before returning to the prince's side.

"Well done, very well done." Dimrost told his young pupil, a smile once more touching his lips before turning to the other children, "Aros! You next."

Finally all the level two class had been assessed; all the elflings left the clearing except Legolas and his friends who still had to help Dimrost after lessons.

"You know what do by now I believe," Dimrost said with a smile to the four little ones, "You just get in with it while I work on who'll be working where next month."

The four glumly set to work, Earelen went to retrieve the arrows out of the targets, Balar scouted around to check none had gone off-course and were lying in the grass, Aros gathered the bows, and Legolas the quivers. Once everything had been collected in they set about cleaning them. All the bows had to be rubbed down so that the wood was still smooth and the arrows would fly well. The arrows had to be checked to ensure that they hadn't been dented and then they too had to be polished. All the quivers had to be checked inside and out; the straps had to be clean and smooth, the buckles had to be polished to stop them from going rusty, and the insides had to be cleaned so the arrows didn't get stuck. They were about half way through doing all this when Aros saw Arhival approaching.

"What's Arhival doing coming over here? When we finish Dimrost takes us to her so she can supervise us. She needn't come and get us." Aros said in a puzzled voice.

When he said Arhival's name Legolas' head had jerked up to look.

"Oh no!" the young prince breathed.

"What?" asked Balar.

"That man from Dale's coming today! Adar organised a formal meal for when he arrived."

"So? What's the big deal? It's only a meal." Earelen pointed out.

"No, you don't understand, formal meals are, well, formal. Formal clothes, boring talk, and very few at the meal. That means Adar, Aegnor and Gelion, the man from Dale, anyone he brings with him, and me. It's awful, the clothes are horrible to wear and it's so boring."

As the young prince said this, he moved away from the pile of archery sets and moved into a crouch, like someone ready to run.

"Legolas," Earelen began in a warning voice, "I don't think you should run. We've been in enough trouble already."

"You don't understand! It's like a private family meal where adults sit and chat about politics. You can't tell me you've never tried to get out of something like that."

"I have." Balar admitted.

"Same." Aros confessed.

"Earelen." Legolas prompted.

"Ok, I did."

"I don't ask you to come." Legolas told them as he backed quietly towards the edge of the clearing.

"We know that," Balar said, "But how do you expect to get away without us."

With that, they took off, just as Arhival and Dimrost came into the clearing. The two elves groaned, they should have known the little prince would run.

"I'll go after them." Arhival said as she took off, but Dimrost followed; they were more likely to catch the foursome together.

The little ones ran all around the palace grounds, utterly confusing their pursuers. When they had lost them, the four young ones stopped for a breather, right on the forest edge. Legolas was staring into the trees.

"Legolas," Aros said, an edge of worry in his voice, "Legolas, we can't go in there, we're in enough trouble as it is."

"I have to try to get out of this!" Legolas protested.

"We have tried to get you out of this," Balar pointed out, "We can keep going like this."

"Besides, your Adar said we weren't allowed into the forest until he said we could go in." Earelen pointed out.

Legolas thought back to the day they had been given their punishments. Thranduil's voice drifted through his head, "You four are not allowed into the forest to play until further notice." 'To play!' Legolas suddenly remembered, then said quickly, "No! He said we weren't allowed into the forest to _play_! He didn't say not at all!"

"You're right!" Balar said joyfully.

"But-" Earelen began.

"Earelen, we aren't playing, are we? Besides, you miss the forest as much as we do. Come on, let's go in." Aros said before Earelen could finish her sentence.

"Oh all right. But I still don't think this is a good idea."

With that the four elflings took off into the forest, just as Arhival and Dimrost spotted them..

"Oh no!" Arhival groaned, "They're in so much trouble! They're not allowed in the forest yet."

"We had better inform Thranduil." Dimrost said with a sigh, "He will not be pleased."

"I will not be pleased about what, Dimrost?" A voice said in a slightly cold tone from behind them.

The pair froze, then slowly turned to face Thranduil, who stood with his arms folded across his chest and one elegant golden eyebrow raised. He repeated the question slightly louder,  
"I will not be pleased about _what_, Dimrost?"

Dimrost swallowed in a dry throat and glanced apprehensively at Arhival, who looked about as nervous as he felt. Thranduil could scare even adult elves when he tried.

Meanwhile, the four young ones were dashing thorough the forest, determined not to be caught. After a while they slowed down and came to a path that they knew well; if they followed it, the path would lead them to Morn Nen.

"I don't think they're following us." Balar said jovially .

"It's so good to be back among the trees," Earelen sighed happily, "Don't you think?"

"Too true." Legolas agreed, "I never realised how much this forest meant to me, until I wasn't allowed in."

"Same with me," Aros said, "It gets rather dull, staying in a confined area for so long. I wonder how the dwarves cope in their mines?"

The four laughed. They had slowed to a walk and were now ambling along, breathing the forest air, chatting merrily. Finally, Balar asked,

"Why were you so desperate to get out of that dinner anyway Legolas. You're not normally so insistent."

Legolas was silent for a moment, his eyes on the ground. When he answered, it was in a quiet, sad voice, "Last time someone from Dale was here, I was only six. (two to us) me and my brothers, we did things with Naneth then, we-"

He stopped talking and swallowed hard, he wouldn't let grief be his master. He didn't understand why he still couldn't talk about her. The young prince sighed before continuing, "We did things together. All those memories, even though they are so happy, they are painful to recall. Naneth is painful to recall. I miss her so much."

"I'm sorry." Balar said, he hadn't meant to bring up painful memories.

"It's ok," Legolas said with a small smile, then he grinned, "But do you reckon this will work?"

With that they continued down the forest path, chattering and singing like birds. They hadn't gone too far when a strange smell reached their nostrils and thin wisps of smoke clouded the air.

"What is this stuff?" Balar asked as they slowed their pace some more.

"No idea," replied Aros.

They continued for a time but all the while, the smoke was getting thicker, and the smell stronger. All of a sudden, Earelen stopped one hand on her chest, the other supporting herself against a tree. Her breathing was shallow and slightly harder than normal.

"Earelen what is it?" Legolas asked, concerned.

"I can't breath." She gasped, "My chest, it's so tight."

She was on the verge of collapsing when they heard a voice floating down the path on the breeze to them. It was coming out of the smoke.

"Quick hide!" Legolas hissed quietly.

Aros and Balar scrambled into the bushes just off the path, while Legolas carefully helped Earelen in behind them. They out of sight not a moment to soon, for just then, an old man wearing grey robes, a grey cloak and a pointed blue hat appeared. He was carrying a tall wooden staff and was veiled in the strange smelling smoke. He had long grey hair, a long grey beard and bushy grey eyebrows. He sung quietly to himself as he approached the part of the path where the young elves had left it.

"The road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began;

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow if I can.

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it meets some larger way;

Where many paths and errands meet,

And whither then I cannot say-"

The old man suddenly stopped singing and froze, right beside the elflings' hiding place. Somehow, he knew they were there. How he knew, none of the little ones could tell, but he did. The man turned and stared at the bushes the four were hiding in. They could see a long wooden pipe in his free hand, the strange smoke emanating from the bowl. He approached the bushes but just before he was upon them, Legolas spoke out in a clear commanding voice,

"Daro! Dartha ad!"

The man stopped in his approach.

"Why don't you come out from there little elves? I mean no harm." He said lightly in Westron.

So he knew, the four glanced at each other. Legolas understood what the man was saying, but he didn't know if the others did. As a prince, Legolas had to be able to speak Westron, the common tongue. He translated quietly as he assessed the situation, Earelen wasn't going to be able to fight for long if the need arose; she could barely breath and still looked as if she would pass out any second. Aros, Balar and himself could hold out for a while but he didn't know how long. Legolas grasped the handles of his knives; no elf of Mirkwood went out undefended any more. The others followed suit and then they stood and faced the strange man.

"What are you doing out here alone in the forest young ones?" the old man questioned them.

"Actually," Legolas said in slightly accented Westron, "I was about to ask you almost the same question. Who are you and what is your business in Mirkwood?"

The man raised his eyebrows at the young prince and stared hard at him. Legolas stared right back, unmoving.

"You must be the youngest Thranduilion, no other would be so bold."

Legolas raised a single golden eyebrow in a remarkably good imitation of his father and said, "You still haven't answered my question."

"Very well young one, I will answer you. My business is with Thranduil your king. As to my name, I have many. But to your kind usually call me Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgrim."

"If you are who you say, then you would speak elvish." was Legolas' counter, he still didn't trust the man.

"Ai, nin tithen min, a im car."

Just then, Earelen collapsed behind them.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Arhival and Dimrost were faced with a slightly different problem.

"Well," Thranduil prompted with a hint of impatience in his voice, "Are you going to answer me or not?"

"Well…er…Thranduil," Dimrost began hesitantly, thankful the king had lowered his eyebrow, "You know…you know how you said Legolas and his friends weren't allowed to go into the forest."

Thranduil sighed, Dimrost was one of the few elves of lower rank who called him by his name rather than his title, and possible the only elf younger than him to do so.

"Yes, I know that perfectly well thank you."

"Well, he just went in."

The play of emotions that ran through Thranduil's eyes at that point would have been amusing at almost ant other time. Shock, to anger, and then to a look that said all too plainly, 'I should have know this was coming'.

"Is anyone following?" the king asked.

"No." replied Arhival.

"Then I suggest you go after them then. I need Legolas back here, and you seem able enough to follow them, and go unnoticed."

"But I was fresh on their trail then!" Arhival protested.

Finding the pesky little prince was hard enough in the grounds, never mind in the forest.

"Arhival, were you, or were you not, trained in tracking as a young elf?"

"I was sire." Arhival sighed.

"Then would you please go and fetch nin ion."

"Yes sire."

With that, Arhival turned and made her way into the forest, using all her ability to track the path of the four little ones. They were horrors to find when they didn't want to be found. Soon, she found a sign of them and was able to pick up their trail, a piece of hair here, a thread there, footprints only visible because of her elven sight; these were what she followed. Eventually, the trail led her to a track, were she bumped into someone she hadn't expected to see.

(Back with the elflings and Gandalf)

"Earelen!"

Earelen lay there, coughing and gasping for breath. Her friends were at her side in an instant, Legolas quickly turned her onto her side and lifted her head and shoulders slightly. Gandalf came to Earelen's side to and took a small flask from inside his cloak. Carefully, he gave Earelen a few small sips of the liquid within the flask. Her coughing subsided and she was soon able to breathe more freely again.

"Better?" Gandalf asked her in Elvish.

"Diolla le." Earelen said with a small smile.

"What caused that?" Balar asked.

"This probably." Gandalf said matter-of-factly, holding up his pipe, but seeing the elflings' puzzled expressions gave a more detail explanation.

"Some elves have strange reactions to pipeweed. It's odd because they're the only race that do. Have you never noticed, elves don't smoke?"

"I never knew other races did smoke." Aros commented.

"Well, that's why. Some have strange reactions. None of you boys felt anything did you?"

"It made my throat a bit dry but nothing else." Balar answered as the other two shook their heads.

"Each of you have a sip anyway." Gandalf said, handing them the flask. The three boys obeyed, Balar taking a sip first, then Aros, and finally Legolas.

Gandalf rose to his feet, the young ones following suit gracefully.

"Do other races smoke then?" Balar asked, curiously.

"Yes, a lot of men do, and dwarves are quite heavy smokers actually. And hobbits smoke a fair bit as well."

"Hobbits? What's a hobbit?" Aros asked furrowing his brow.

Gandalf chuckled as they started to walk back towards the palace.

"Hobbits," he said with a smile and shake of his head, "Amazing creatures really. Small, between two and four feet tall and they have large feet with hard soles and furry tops, they never where shoes. They love food, meaning they're often quite plump too. On the whole, a picture of innocence, a bit like you really."

Legolas snorted; them innocent! They hadn't been called that in a long time.

"But if you knew some elves have bad reactions to pipeweed, why did you smoke in an elven realm in the first place?" Earelen inquired.

"Well, normally there'd only be patrols out this far, children like you wouldn't be allowed out on your own. And there's always at least one member in a patrol who knows about pipeweed and anyone having trouble with it can be sent back with a message that I'm coming." Gandalf replied.

"But where do you know to stop smoking?" Balar asked, all curiosity.

"Well, a little further down this path there's a small stream where I put away my pipe and give myself a quick wash."

They continued to talk as they walked down the path. The young elves were full of curiosity about the wide world and other races. The little ones didn't even seem to notice that Gandalf was leading them back to where they had just put a lot of energy into escaping. All of a sudden, a surprised voice called out from slightly further on.

"Mithrandir!"

It was Arhival; only then did the little ones realise how silly they'd been. Legolas quickly slipped behind Gandalf but his sharp-eyed mentor had already seen him. Hurriedly she reached out and grabbed Legolas' arm, pulling him towards her.

"Oh no you don't you little pest. You aren't getting away from me so easily."

Legolas merely looked at her, his expression one of someone totally innocent who has been accused of a horrible crime.

"What are you talking about Arhival?" he asked in a hurt voice.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about, and you can drop the act, it isn't going to work."

Legolas dropped the manner; his face now had an edge of surliness to it.

"He may know," Gandalf said, "But I do not, and I'm curious. These for young ones seem the picture of innocence to me."

"Innocence!" Arhival laughed, "you obviously don't know them very well!"

Translations

Adar - father

Daro - halt

Dartha ad - stay back

Ai - ah

Nin tithen min - my little one

A im car - and I can

Nin ion - my son

Diolla le - thank you

REPLY TO REVIEW (hint to anyone reading this! REVIEW! please?)

TreeHugger: Thank you for the review. I couldn't agree more with that. Seriously, Legolas should learn to control his mouth. Did I make you cry? But, it just goes from one extreme to another doesn't it? From sad to humorous. I would also like to know why parents lay on the chores so much, do you know? Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it and hope you like this just as much.


	9. Galathil of Dale

Chapter 8

A/N - ok, so the shorter chapter idea went out the window. But hey, I'm only human.

When they returned to the palace Thranduil was waiting for them outside. When he saw them he called out jovially,

"Mithrandir! 'Tis good to see you again nin mellon. Nae saian lumme'!"

"Aaye Oropherion! Eleneth sila am le." Gandalf replied with a smile.

As the two old friends talked together, Legolas made another bid for freedom; Arhival having made the mistake of loosening her grip on him slightly. But once again, the little prince wasn't quite quick enough and Arhival's voice cut through the air as her grip tightened around Legolas' arm once more,

"Oh no you don't you little pest. You're staying right here."

"Indeed." Thranduil sighed, "I'll deal with you later Legolas. Right now, you need to go and change; the man from Dale will be here soon."

Legolas stared at his father (he had only just realised Thranduil was in a high necked shirt, formal tunic and other impressive clothing) so, all his efforts had been in vain, he hadn't even escaped the dinner.

Legolas' musings were cut short by his father's voice giving instructions to Arhival,

"Please take Aros, Balar and Earelen home. Then, if you would, take Legolas to his room and make sure he gets changed and doesn't escape again."

"Of course, I don't want to be running after him again."

So, Arhival led four very subdued little elflings to the tree houses around the other side of the palace. They knew they were in serious trouble now, none of their parents were going to be happy. Legolas looked at his friends, they knew without words that the young prince felt responsible for all this and he was really sorry to have got his friends into trouble again. To him, it was always his ideas that got them into this sort of mess. He didn't mind if his friends laid the blame on him, after all, it was his idea to go into the forest. He told them this quietly as they walked on, but his friends wouldn't hear of it. Legolas wasn't the only one whose schemes went array, he just came up with more than the other three. There was one small portion of hope for the young ones though, Thranduil had said they weren't allowed into the forest to play and they hadn't really been playing after all.

Once Legolas' friends had been taken home Arhival half dragged, half escorted the young prince back to his rooms. When they got there, Legolas saw his formal outfit was neatly laid out on his bed. The young prince walked over and stared at the outfit, high collared shirt with tight cuffs, tight leggings, the whole thing even looked uncomfortable.

"Well go on then, don't just stare at it." Arhival said impatiently from just inside the door.

"I'm not getting changed with you in here!" Legolas said loudly, half defiant, half horrified.

"I'm not leaving this room until you're ready. If I do you'll probably try and escape again and I'm not running after you a third time today. I'll turn around or close my eyes, but I'm not leaving you in here alone." Arhival said snappily.

"Fine!" Legolas reluctantly agreed, "Now would you turn around and close your eyes."

"Very well nin caun." Arhival said calmly, and with saying any more, turned to face the door and shut her eyes.

Legolas quickly pulled off his tunic and shirt and replaced them with the high necked shirt. Then off came his leggings to be replaced by the formal ones and a silver belt.

"I'm ready."

Arhival turned round and looked at the young prince. He did look extremely handsome, the shirt was pale green with silver embroidery and trimmings at the neck and cuffs, the leggings were slightly darker, but not by much, also embroidered in silver and they had very slight flares at the bottom. His belt was shining silver as well, with an emerald clasp. But Arhival sighed when she looked at the prince's feet.

"Change your shoes too Legolas, or do you want me to do it for you as if you were a baby? And please do up your cuffs."

Grumbling Legolas yanked off his brown boots and pulled on the delicate silver shoes with green trimming. Once that was done he stood up and glared at his mentor.

"And the cuffs."

"I can't do cuffs up one handed."

"Fine, I'll do them."

Arhival moved forward and did the prince's cuffs up, then led him to his dressing table and sat him down in front of it so she could do his hair. Carefully she undid the child's plait the young prince wore in his hair, picked up a brush and began to untangle the hair. To be fair, it wasn't too bad, it took a lot to get Legolas' hair in a real mess, but there was the odd knot or two and Arhival was very careful not to hurt the prince as she got rid of them. Once his hair was brushed out, she carefully redid his plait and entwined some green and silver thread into it. With that, Arhival led the young prince out of his room to the throne room where Thranduil was waiting with Aegnor and Gelion. 

The king was wearing a high necked and stiff collared shirt of a rich dark green with golden trimming. His leggings were a slightly lighter hue with the same slight flares as Legolas' but with gold embroidery and a gold belt rather than silver studded with emeralds and with an emerald clasp. His shoes were also of a soft golden material with green trimming. Aegnor and Gelion were dressed the same as Legolas and Thranduil but they both had silver embroidery, belts and shoes rather than gold like their father. Aegnor was dressed in deep green, not quite as dark as his father's clothes but a lush colour nonetheless while Gelion was dressed in an even lighter green, but darker than Legolas' clothes, and had more blue in them than the rest. Gandalf stood there also, in his plain grey robes and leaning on his tall staff.

"Nice to see you looking like a prince for once, rather than some little orc raider." Aegnor said smiling at his younger brother.

Legolas stuck his tongue out as a reply.

"That's enough, the pair of you." Thranduil interjected exasperatedly, glaring slightly at them, "I want you to behave today. This agreement is very important to Mirkwood and Dale alike. So try to be good, all of you."

Aegnor started to speak but was cut short by Galion coming in and opening both the great double doors that led to the throne room.

"Galathil of Dale." He announced bowing himself to one side.

A reasonably tall man entered the hall. He had dark hair cut just above his broad shoulders, a healthy colour to his skin, a straight nose, a thin mouth, sea green eyes, stood just under six feet tall and was plainly of Numenorian decent. He wore dark silvery grey leggings, a dark grey silk shirt with full sleeves and a high collar, and a black sleeveless tunic. The tunic was made from soft wool and it came half way down his thighs and was split from the waist down. It had a impressive star device embroidered onto the front. 

As Thranduil surveyed the man, three children appeared behind him. A son, with a slimmer build but whose features closely resembled that of his father's except his large brown eyes and slightly unkempt hair. He was also dressed in a similar fashion to his father. Two young girls also appeared. The older had straight dark hair that fell to her chest; she also had large brown eyes and was a broader build than her brother. Her features too were similar, but slightly softer and she wore a black dress that came down to just above her ankles with full-length flared sleeves and a silver belt. The other daughter had fairer hair, curly and pale brown that fell to her shoulders. She had much softer features, a smaller nose and fuller lips than the others did. Her eyes were large green pools of childish wonder and she too was of the slim build of her brother. Her dress was like her sister's but fell only to just below her knees and the sleeves came only to her elbows, it was also a lighter hue and she wore no belt.

"Welcome Galathil, to my Halls. I hope you will find stay comfortable and enjoyable." Thranduil greeted the man, inclining his head.

"Greetings King Thranduil. I thank you for allowing me to stay. May I introduce my son and heir, Galador, and my two daughters, Eldanna and Elanor." Galathil replied with a smile and a bow.

"You are most welcome, all of you. And now may I introduce my sons. Aegnor, Gelion and Legolas. And also, a surprise visitor; Mithrandir, you may know him as Gandalf."

The three boys inclined their heads to the visitors while Gandalf smiled nodding to Galathil who gave him a look that spoke of familiarity and friendly exasperation at the wizard's incredible timing.

Galathil's son was no older than nine summers or so, his older daughter, with the dark hair was seven and the younger was four. To them it appeared that Aegnor was twenty-six, Gelion twenty-three, and Legolas five.

"Come," Thranduil said to the visitors, "You must be weary from your journey. Let us dine before conduct the formalities of business."

"Indeed," Galathil replied, "I could do with some food."

Legolas sighed quietly, the formal meal. All that effort for nothing, and likely as not, he would be punished for going into the forest. The elves and men made their way to the private dinning room that was used for these occasions. The furniture was all dark wood. A long table with a dozen chairs round it and a dozen more situated round the room. Each chair had a lush, green goose feather cushion on it and there were a few cabinets round the walls. Thranduil sat at the head of the table with the elves on his right and the visitors on his left.

So the meal began, Thranduil, Aegnor, Gelion, Gandalf and Galathil were discussing business, the growing orc problem and other boring grown-ups' talk like that. The meal in itself was very good. Soup for starter, pheasant, potatoes and vegetables for the main course and an undecorated cake for desert. However, Legolas was incredibly bored. The two girls were chatting and Galador was listening to the older ones' conversation and attempting to be part of it, trying vainly to get the attention of Aegnor and Gelion whom he found quite impressive.

Finally the meal ended. Thranduil had one last word with Galathil, and then Galion led the visitors to their rooms.

"Legolas."

Legolas grimaced and turned towards his father. Thranduil glared down at son with a look that would have made Morgoth tremble with fear. Legolas swallowed in a dry throat, he was in so much trouble, the thread of hope he had held onto slipped away as he faced his father; who at present looked more fierce than a Balrog to the little prince.

"Come with me."

Thranduil's voice was as cold as steel. Legolas stared fearfully at his father, but obeyed. Thranduil led the young prince to his formal study. He opened the door and Legolas walked slowly in. The room looked even more foreboding than usual, the shadows were all deep and long. Thranduil entered behind Legolas, lit the candles and sat down.

"Why?"

Legolas stared at his father for a few moments, then lowered his gaze. Why? That was simple enough. He didn't want to be pained by memories of his mother, but how could he tell his father that?

Thranduil asked the young prince again, "Why did you go into the forest when I had told you not to?"

"I didn't want to come to the formal dinner Adar."

"Legolas, I didn't tell your friends' parents about the spider baiting. I kept you in the grounds so I could see whether or not I could trust you not to spider bait again. Then you run off, is that really going to make me trust you?"

"Adar, I'm sorry, I just didn't want to have to face another formal dinner with Galathil." Legolas sounded desperate. He even sounded as though he meant he truly was sorry, and he was.

"Why though?" his father asked, genuinely not understanding what Legolas meant.

"Naneth was here last time."

Thranduil sighed. Ailiel was the key to most of the odd things that Legolas did nowadays. Painful memories. He could sympathise with his son in that. It was hard to think about his beloved wife sometimes, even painful. But the poor king wished that his youngest son didn't only have to associate memories of his mother with pain and suffering. However, as the young prince had seen her die, it wasn't easy to recall her without recalling her death. Thranduil understood that, some of his close friends had died in the Last Alliance, and it was hard to recall them without bringing up memories of the battle, the thousands slain. Thranduil shook his head slightly, trying to banish those evil, morbid thoughts.

"Come here nin ion." He said, but in a much gentler tone than his previous one.

Legolas complied, allowing himself to be scooped up onto his father's lap. Thranduil spoke quietly to his youngest son.

"I know it's painful to think about her. But I don't think your naneth would want you never to remember her in any way but pain. She wouldn't want you to be so sad."

Legolas rested his head on his father's chest.

"I know Adar, but whenever I think about her, I see her surrounded by orcs, and-"

The young prince stopped, he didn't want to finish the sentence. Thranduil understood, and held his son tightly to him.

"I know. But try to think about all the good times we had together with her. Not just in longing, but in happy remembrance."

"I'll try Adar."

"Good boy." Thranduil said, placing a kiss on the top of his son's head.

A/N - I thought that may take a while. Next chapter; Legolas, his friends and the children of Galathil get into a spot of trouble when Galador doesn't like the idea of being 'looked after' by someone he assumes is only 5.

Translations

nin mellon - my friend

Nae saian lumme - it has been to long.

Aaye Oropherion - Hail son of Oropher

Eleneth sila am le - Stars shine on you.

nin caun - my prince

Adar - father

Naneth - mother

Nin ion - my son.

REPLIES TO REVIEWS: (And there's more than one for once!)

TreeHugger: I'm glad you thought it wasn't too long. I've decided to give up on the keeping the chapters short idea, it isn't really working. Well, what can I say, he has his ways of worming out of trouble. Though, sometimes at the cost of poor elves such as Dimrost and Arhival. Ido feel quite sorry for them, Thranduil must be pretty scary at times like that. I believe this introduction of Gandalf may have even more of an effect than most people, including myself realise, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him yet. But poor Legolas, that formal dinner is not fun even if hanging around with a pipeweed smoking wizard is. You're right, I think a fic about little elflings and hobbits would be quite sweet. Well, glad you liked the last insalment and hope you like this one!

Nellas: Hello you. I couldn't agree more about that statement. Poor Arhival. I certainly wouldn't have the energy to deal with Legolas. And yes, Thranduil does like locking people up, just not in this story, yet. Thanks for the complement, and Legolas is the equivalent to five and a half, not six. I know, I'm being picking. But as to your question, in my fics, elvish children have the intellect of their actual age, but behave like their equivalent age. Glad you like it! I hope this chapter is a good.

daw the minstrel: Indeed it is good to see Gandalf, but I think you're right, Thranduil probably didn't take his words quite as literally as Legolas did. However, the little prince can always try! Great to hear you liked it. Hope this chapter lives up to the rest.


	10. Trouble with Galador and a Spider

Chap 9

Legolas' eyes slowly came into focus. He yawned widely and stretched, catlike. He glanced out the window, the sun was up, and breakfast would be soon. He sat up excitedly already planning what he and his friends could do today; Thranduil had lifted the ban on the forest the night before after their little heart-to-heart. But then the young prince remembered Galathil was there. That meant a boring breakfast for sure, he wouldn't even be in the same room as his friends. Sighing he dragged himself out of bed as there was a knock on the door. 

"Come in." he said in a quiet subdued voice.

Arhival entered smiling.

"Quel amrun tithen min. How are you this morning?"

"Ok" Legolas replied with a shrug, then asked, "Am I expected to play with Galathil's children?"

"That depends on your father. I'm sure you can see Aros, Balar and Earelen as well even if you do." Arhival answered, picking up the under question, "But now, you must get dressed. You don't have to wear anything formal though. Just your slightly smarter ordinary clothes will do."

Legolas grinned. No more high collars, until the leaving dinner anyway. Arhival was taking suitable clothes out the prince's wardrobe. She laid them out on the bed then told Legolas to be at the private dinning room in half an hour. The little elfling nodded so Arhival left him to get dressed. 

Twenty minutes later, Legolas arrived at the family's private dinning room. He stared at the door for a moment before he swallowed and entered. Thranduil was already seated at the head of the table. Galathil too was already there, and Gelion was there also, but Galathil's children and Aegnor had not yet arrived. 

"Quel amrun Adar, Gelion." Legolas said perkily, before turning to Galathil and bowing his head, "Good morning my Lord Galathil."

Galathil chuckled, "Good morning to you too young prince. Though I fear that the title you gave me is hardly deserved. I am no lord, merely a spokesperson."

Legolas couldn't help giggle a little as he climbed onto his chair. Thranduil smiled warmly at his youngest son before turning back to Galathil and continuing their conversation. Soon Arhival lead Galathil's children in and Aegnor followed a few minutes later. Legolas couldn't help but notice the way he held his left hand. It was different to the way his oldest brother normally held his hands, he couldn't think how though, but it was definitely different. After a quite exchange with Thranduil, Aegnor took his place and they began the meal.

It was just as boring as yesterday's dinner, but Legolas had more to think about and less to brood on this time. He was planning on how he could convince his father to let him and his friends into the forest without supervision and wondering what was different about Aegnor's hand. When the meal was over, there was a quiet knock on the door and Gandalf entered. Legolas had nearly forgotten about the wizard for he hadn't been dinning with them and the young prince hadn't seen him since before the evening meal the night before. The old Istari walked slowly up to Thranduil and had a quiet word with him and Galathil before exiting again. Then Thranduil turned to Legolas and said,

"Would you look after our young guests today ion nin? We can't have them getting bored."

Legolas grinned at his father who smiled back.

"May I take them to the Aure Latina?"

"Of course, if it is all right with Galathil." The king answered his son before turning to Galathil himself; "The Aure Latina is a clearing not very far from here. It's perfectly safe." 

"Of course. Will they be going alone?"

"Arhival will take them, but she won't be able to remain. However, she can go and collect them at lunch time."

"Very well. You hear that you three? And be good."

"Yes father." The two girls answered immediately. 

Galador frowned slightly but nodded. 

"Oh, and may Aros, Balar and Earelen come to?" Legolas asked hopefully.

"Yes, but don't ignore out guests."

"Of course. Diolla le Adar!" 

So, less than half and hour later Legolas, Aros, Balar and Earelen were all standing in the entrance hall, cloaks about their shoulders, with Arhival wrapped in her own hooded cloak, waiting for the young guests. They soon arrived and the children hurried into the courtyard with Arhival following. When she stopped to talk to one of the guards, Eldanna turned to Legolas and asked curiously, 

"Where are we going Prince Legolas?"

"To the Aure Latina. The Sunlight Clearing." He replied, pointing east of the palace.

"Can't we go that way?" Eldanna asked pointing south.

Legolas shook his head and bit his lip, how much should he tell these young humans?

"We can't go that way," he said finally, "It's dangerous to the south."

"But-" Eldanna began to argue, but at that moment, Arhival came back.

"Legolas, aren't you going to introduce your friends to your guests?" she said mildly with a smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He said, addressing the visitors, "Allow me to introduce Aros, Balar and Earelen." 

He indicated to each of his friends in turn.

"Do they speak Westron?" Galador asked challengingly. 

"A little" Legolas replied.

"Come on, let's be off." Arhival called to the young ones, cutting their discussion short.

So they hurried off after the maiden. Galador and Eldanna fell behind the others slightly to talk, while Elanor chatted brightly with the elves.

"Who does he think he is, bossing us around like that?" Galador muttered to his sister angrily, "I bet you he made that up about the south being dangerous. That's probably the best place in all this horrible forest."

"I'm sure he wouldn't do that." Eldanna replied uncertainly, "He is a prince after all, and he seems nice enough."  
"Eldanna! Are you just going to let some stuck up elven brat walk all over you? He has no right to tell us what to do. I mean, I'm nearly double his age."

"Well, I don't know."

"Come on, we both want to go south, so why don't we. It's not like we'll be doing anything dangerous. Nothing'll happen to us."

"But what about the grown-up?" 

"She'll go and then we'll go south. Come on Eldanna, do you really want some snobby pointy eared idiot bossing you around all day?"

Meanwhile, Elanor was happily chattering away. Soon, Arhival stopped and said,

"It isn't much farther and I'm sure you can find your way on your own, so I'm sorry to have to leave you like this, but I really must go."

"Bye!" Elanor called as the elflings bade her farewell in their native tongue.

"Come on. It's not much farther, this way."

They continued on, but the four young elves were too preoccupied with little Elanor to realise when Galador and Eldanna slipped away towards the south. In fact, they only realised when they reached the clearing a while later.

"Ai Valar!" Earelen cried, "Galador a Eldanna, manke na ron?"

Just then, they heard a faint scream coming from the south.

"That sounds like Eldanna!" Elanor cried horrified.

Legolas cursed, "Ron na wanwa har!"

"We do not go that way." Balar breathed, horror showing clearly in his face.

"We must." Legolas answered.

With that Earelen swung a very confused Elanor onto her back, and the four elflings took to the trees, making their way southward as quickly as they could. Legolas silently hoped that no one at the palace could hear the distant cries for help. If they could, he would hate to think what his father would do to him.

A few minutes after Arhival had left the children, Galador and Eldanna had slipped off to the south. They had made their way carefully, but after a while, Eldanna began to get frightened. The further south they got, the denser the trees seemed to get, giving the air a darker, suffocating quality. 

"Galador, I don't like this, it's so dark. I think Legolas was telling the truth." Eldanna said fearfully, quickening her pace so she could walk closer to him.

"Don't be silly, it's probably just cloudy."

"But, but it's so eerie! No Galador, I don't like this one bit!"

"So go back, and don't bother me anymore. You're just being a wimp."

"I'm not a wimp!"

"Then come on."

A while later, they came to the edge of a wet area, with many little pools of dark, murky water and wet mossy, muddy ground. Just then, Eldanna realised she was stuck.

"Galador!" she cried, terrified, "Galador help me!"

Her brother made for her, but started sinking in the thick mud and got stuck. 

"Galador, I'm sinking! What'd we do?"

Just then, Eldanna felt as something brushed past her and she screamed. She kept screaming and calling for help and soon she was in tears. Galador was struggling desperately, trying with all his might to get out, but only sinking faster for it.

Meanwhile, Legolas and his friends dashed through the canopy, hurrying towards the sound of Eldanna's cries for help. Finally they reached the edge of the mini bog. The young humans were out of reach, fairly close to the middle. Aros stepped out onto the boggy land, but scrambled back quickly after he felt himself sinking. 

"Eldanna! Galador!" Elanor cried, terrified for her siblings.

Then, to cap it all off, a spider appeared at the side of the marsh. Legolas cursed again. Just his luck!

"Balar, Earelen, get Eldanna and Galador! Aros, help me distract that spider!" Legolas called to his friends, instantly assuming command, almost instinctively. 

Balar went straight to find something they could use to pull Galador and Eldanna free while Earelen called out to the trapped humans, trying to tell them not to struggle but it was hard getting the message across as she didn't speak much Westron. Whilst that happened, Legolas and Aros drew their knifes and began distracting the spider away from its easy meal. Both of them couldn't help feeling grateful that they had Spider Baited because it meant they had experience dealing with the beasts. However, this spider was much bigger then the ones they were used to dealing with. The ones they had baiting had never been more than eight feet tall, but this monster, was a full fifteen feet. And on top of that, it had a massive seven-foot leg span, six bulging pairs of eyes, two, foot long venomous fangs and a pair of raiser sharp pincers.

"Hey Ugly!" Legolas yelled at the spider, "Bet you can't catch me!"

"Big fat spider! All big body! No brain, no shame! Can't catch me!" Aros taunted.

The spider hissed angrily, and taking to the canopy began to make for the two boys. 

"Nah!" Legolas called sticking out his tongue at the enraged spider, then picked up a small rock and hurled it at the massive body.

It stuck home with a smack. Aros also began bombarding the spider with stones and together, he and the young prince began to lead the spider further away from the others, but not too far that they couldn't see them.

"Attercop! Attercop! Silly old thing! You can't catch us you Big Fat Fool!" Legolas called, in an annoying sing song voice.

Just then, hissing dreadfully, the spider leapt from the canopy to just in front of Legolas. The young prince gasped and leapt back, out of the way, his eyes wide. Then, after a quick glance at Balar and Earelen, who had found a branch and were beginning to drag Eldanna out the bog, his resolve hardened. They didn't need long, just long enough. So the young prince made his way, hopping and dancing, singing and taunting with Aros always just out of the spider's reach, leading it on a merry chase. But the spider rammed into the branch Aros was standing on, sending him flying to the ground. He made to get up, but the spider was too close and there was no way of escape. Legolas froze; staring horrified as the scene played before him. One of his best friends lying on the ground. The marsh on one side, a large steep rock on another, and the spider bearing down on him from the third. Aros was breathing hard. He stared, panic stricken at the spider, then to Earelen and Balar, who had got Eldanna out and nearly had Galador, then finally to Legolas.

"Go!" he yelled his voice shaking as the spider bore down upon him; "Go while you can! Leave me!"

Legolas shook his head numbly. Then as the spider drew close enough to Aros that it could touch him, Legolas let out a yell, and, almost without thinking, leapt between the beast and its intended prey.

"NO!" he yelled, slashing at the spider with his knife.

The spider stepped back a bit, hissing at the young prince. Soon the two were locked in a battle, Legolas striking out when he could, and dodging when he had to.

"Aros!" he called to his friend, after dodging a sweep from one of the pincers, "Get to Balar and Earelen! Now!" 

Aros knew he couldn't help Legolas where he was, trapped between the marsh and the rock so he had no choice but to comply. Scrambling up he dodged the battle and hurried a little out of the way. Then he turned and gasped. Legolas had jumped back and fallen. He was still swiping out with his knife, but the spider caught his wrist under one of his legs. Fangs beared, the beast brought his mouth slowly towards the prince's neck. His friends stood there, frozen with fear. But then, the spider suddenly reared, up and back, and Legolas was on his feet again within a second. Somehow, the young price had managed to stab the leg holding his knife hand down. But the spider was atop him again as soon as Legolas had gained his feet, but this time, the young prince wasn't quick enough. Fangs sank into his left forearm. 

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A/N - he he! Cliff hanger! That was a bit mean, I know, but the chapter was getting a bit long, so I decided to stop there. 

Translations

Ion nin - my son*

Aure Latina - sunlight clearing

Manke na ron? - Where are they? (Literally, where is they?)

Ron na wanwa har - They have gone south (literally, they is gone south)

*Previously I'd been putting 'nin' before the word (like ion) but Nellas has nicely corrected my grammar. 'nin' should go after.

Replies to Reviews

Nellas: Yeah, after everything I've put him through, Legolas might need a psychiatrist. As you can see, I've taken your grammar note, but Aaye is a word, I just haven't spelt it right because I've no idea how you spell it. No they don't end up near Dol Guldor as you probably guessed, just in a bog. But the ending for the last chapter was fairly fluffy, I thought it would be nicer seeing as what I've just done. 

Daw the minstrel: Yes, good Ada Thranduil will probably be in here a lot. He's much nicer than nasty Thranduil. But keeping Legolas safe can be nearly impossible. The dinner was very boring though; I hate that sort of thing.


	11. Run Home

Chap 10

Ok, I haven't done a disclaimer in a while so here goes. As much I would love to lay claim to the character and places of Middle-Earth, they belong to Tolkien and I make no money from them whatsoever.

Legolas yelled in pain. With one last ounce of desperation, he slashed at the spider and it jumped away from him, releasing his arm. Unfortunately for the spider, it jumped towards the bog and one of its legs got stuck. Legolas was bent over double, clutching his arm. Blood seeped through his sleeve and he felt the poison moving round his body. Gasping in pain he glanced at the spider and realised that it would be out soon. They didn't have much time. Straightening up as best he could he called to his friends, urgency in his voice.

"Asca, Kela!"

They didn't need telling twice, Earelen swung Elanor onto her back once more and took to the trees, Balar grabbed Eldanna and Galador's hands and ran with them through the underbrush and Aros ran to Legolas and began to help him run. Each group took a different direction. Aros and Legolas were the slowest. Legolas was trying desperately not to let the poison claim him; he had to remain conscious. As the two elves ran, they could hear the spider following them. Slowly, but surely, it was gaining.

"Aros go." Legolas begged, "I can't keep this up much longer. Leave me to deal with the spider."

"No." Aros replied firmly, "I'm not leaving you out here to die! You saved my life."

Legolas managed a small smile, he was finding it hard to get enough breath, but he would keep going. For the love of his friends, he kept running.

Finally, when Legolas had barely any strength left, they neared the palace. He could hear Earelen calling out bird signals, and the blowing of a horn. She had alerted them to the spider's presence. With one last burst of speed, Legolas and Aros charged for the palace.

Meanwhile, Thranduil, Aegnor, Gelion, Galathil and Gandalf were in counsel. They were discussing the trade between the Woodland Realm and Dale and their mutual dangers. After a while, they adjourned to the Royal family's private sitting room.

"Aegnor," Gelion spoke up, "what have you done to your hand?"

Aegnor showed him, There was a large gash running across the palm, It had been stitched up neatly and was healing well.

"How in Arda did you manage that!" Gelion said aghast.

"That stag I've been hunting put his antler to it." Aegnor replied with a wry smile. "Last night I was out hunting with my friends again, we brought down the beast, but I paid the price for being the best swordsman among us."

"I take it they sent you down to check the stag was dead then." Thranduil said, sounding amused.

Aegnor nodded.

"For my own peace of mind, I hope Galador does not grow up to be as adventurous as your sons Thranduil." Galathil said with a laugh. "I doubt I'd be able to cope."

Now it was Thranduil's turn to laugh,

"These two are nothing!" he said smiling fondly at them, "Legolas is much more of a handful than they ever were. I must say Aegnor came pretty close a few times though."

"Adar!" Aegnor moaned good-naturedly.

"It must go with the blond hair." Gandalf said with a grin, "As I recall, you were quite a handful yourself, if Oropher told true."

"Mithrandir!" Thranduil said in mock hurt, "I was never a difficult child. I always behaved perfectly."

"That'll be the day."

Galathil sighed happily, "I suppose I should be glad my son is not a blond then."

Aegnor gave him a look of mock reproach. His own blond hair fell half way down his back. Out of all of Thranduil's sons, he looked most like their father. His hair had slightly more red to it, but other than that, they were very much alike; the same broad shoulders, the same sharp features and the same deep blue eyes. The family traits from Oropher were strong. Gelion on the other hand, took after their mother, light brown hair and a paler complexion. His eyes were more of a crystalline blue that Ailiel had had and his build was also more similar to his mother's, slender with longer legs. His features too were softer than his father's, with a slightly smaller nose. Legolas was different again, his blond hair the same hue as his father's. His features too were similar to his father's, but toned down slightly. However, he had his mother's build and complexion and his eyes were like mirror's of Ailiel's.

They continued talking. Gandalf was just telling them one of the queerer tales about hobbits when there heard the sounding of a horn. All three elves head snapped towards the sound instantly.

"What is it Thranduil?" Galathil asked quickly.

"Stay here." Was all he got as a reply before Thranduil hurried from the room, his two oldest sons in tow.

Frowning, Galathil got up, and followed by Gandalf, hurried after the Elven King. The man was surprised at how fast the elves were going without actually running. Whatever was going on, it was serious. As the elves entered the entrance hall they saw several of the Home Guard warriors running out the great doors. Galathil and Gandalf arrived in the entrance hall just in time to see the king and his sons going out the doors themselves. They followed.

Thranduil stopped dead just outside the doors, his sons standing at either side of him. Galathil and Gandalf came to stand beside them just as Earelen came bursting out of the woods to their left. She ran towards the palace, little Elanor clutching onto her back, then Balar, Eldanna and Galador came into view from their right. Elanor was off Earelen's back and in her father's arms in an instant. Galathil's other two children were beside him a moment later, Eldanna clutched at her father, terrified. Thranduil's heart raced. Where was Legolas? What had happened? He had the answer a minute later, Aros burst out of the trees directly in front of him, Legolas following shortly after. Blood coated his sleeve, his face was pale and his breathing laboured. Right behind them, a spider came out from the trees. It was fully fifteen feet tall. Eldanna buried her face in her father's legs. Thranduil gasped as Legolas stumbled, then turning around, drew his knife to face the spider. Aros stopped too, also drawing his blade. The spider stopped hissing at Legolas and his friend.

"You shall not pass!" Legolas called to it, his voice shaking, but not with fear, he looked as if he would collapse any second. "You shall not harm any in my father's household while I draw breath."

The young prince spoke valiantly for one so young, but it was plain that it was a great effort.

The spider hissed again. It bore down upon the pair, but they stood firm. Neither would allow the spider to get any nearer to Thranduil's stronghold. Even if they were still young children, they understood how important it was to keep the Shadow at bay. This gave the archers the vital few seconds they needed to notch their arrows, draw, aim and then, they fired a volley into the spider's thick skin. It hissed in pain and leap towards the pair of elflings. They both leapt to the side as another volley struck the abhorrent beast. With a last hiss it slumped forward, and was dead. Legolas sighed, leaning heavily on Aros. His arm was numbing and the world was beginning to spin and go dark. All of a sudden, he fell sideways on the ground.

"Legolas!" Thranduil yelled and, all dignity forgotten, ran forward to his son.

Frozen in horror, he had watched the scene play before him. Aros was already kneeling beside Legolas, frantically trying to wake him up. Thranduil dropped to his knees beside the young child taking his son in his arms and checked his breathing and pulse. Legolas was still alive, but the spider venom was coursing through him. Dimrost ran over to where Thranduil and Aros knelt but the unconscious prince, he had been among the archers who took down the spider.

"Get him to the healers, hurry." Thranduil told the master archer, the strain of fear clear in the normally composed king's voice.

A/N - Yet another cliff hanger. I keep doing that. Well, what can I say, the more reviews I get, the quicker I'll update, or that's the theory anyway.

Translations

Asca - Hurry

Kela - Run

Replies to Review

Legolas-Gurl88: Thanks. It is quite cute, isn't it? I don't have a regular updating time yet but I'm going to try and get into updating once a fortnight. Right now it's a bit random. Hope you like this chapter.

Daw the Minstrel: Yes, I suppose it did have to happen. But I think Thranduil would have preferred it to happen to Galador. Well, hope this chapter's enjoyable!

Nellas: Yes, my elvish probably does sound a bit like a caveman, but I'm still learning. Glad you liked the cliff hanger, especially seeing as I've just written another one! Hope this chapter's as good.

Ok, these next reviews aren't actually for the last chapter but I got them at the same time as the three above.

Nilimade: Thanks. I'm still a bit of an amateur at elvish, but I've got some more stuff to learn from so hopefully it'll improve. I've looked up the stuff you told me but I couldn't find cundu. However, I did find a different word for price so I might use that. Thanks for the input!

TreeHugger: Yes, after all I've put her through, Arhival does deserve a reward. I'm sure Legolas looks just as nice as his adar too, maybe even better, after all, he's the cute one. Aegnor does have a sharp wit though, and yes, poor Thranduil. I think anyone would find it hard to be Legolas' father. Thanks for the compliment! I'm glad I made Thranduil a good adar as well, I would hate to right nasty Thranduil. Well, I hope this chapter's as good!


	12. Sickness and Stories

Chap 11 - Sickness and Stories

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Disclaimer: I own not any canon characters or places, as much as I would wish otherwise, they are the property of Tolkien and therefore I make no money from this venture.

Dimrost picked up the limp body of the youngest prince and ran inside the palace to the healers. Speed was of the essence now; the poison from the spider bite would undoubtedly be strong. That spider was too large to have come from anywhere other than from the northern area of the southern reaches. The thought did little to comfort the master archer as he burst into the healing rooms. Mithril, the Head Healer, turned around. She was about to chide Dimrost for barging in like that but stopped before the first word left her mouth at the sight of the little price's prone form.

"What happened?" she gasped.

"Spider bite." Dimrost said simply, laying Legolas down on one of the beds.

"Arianwen, Brithon!" Mithril called to two of the other healers before turning back to Legolas and removing his tunic and shirt to get a better look at the wound.

There were four puncture marks on the prince's left arm. Two on the top and two on the bottom, each was a centimeter in diameter and bleeding heavily.

"Arianwen, clean those wounds, Brithon, get something to dress them with but don't forget to put the athelas salve on the wound first." Mithril issued her orders before turning to Dimrost, "Dimrost, what can you tell me about the spider? I need to know everything."

Dimrost launched quickly into a description of the beast. When he had done, Mithril nodded, thanked him, and hurried into the next room to fetch some herbs. By the time she came back, Legolas' arm was dressed, but his face was deathly pale. It was obvious he had lost a lot of blood, but how much was impossible to tell.

Mithril instructed Arianwen on how to make the right antidote while Brithon laid his hands on either side of Legolas' head. A faint blue light could be seen forming around them as Brithon gave a small amount of his power to Legolas to help him stay alive until the antidote was issued. The young prince's breathing eased a little and removing his hands, Brithon breathed a sigh of relief. Power channelling was not the most enjoyable of things, but all healers had to be able to do it and preferably, do it well. Sometimes it was the only way to save a patient's life. Dimrost saw he could do no more there and left in search of Thranduil.

Meanwhile, Thranduil had led Legolas' three friends and his guests into the great Hall where he intended to find out what had happened. They had just entered when Arhival appeared with Dimrost. He had plainly told her what had happened, it was obvious from the look on her face. Although she didn't like to admit it, the prince's mentor had grown fond of her mischievous charge. Turning to face Galathil's children, he asked,

"What happened?"

Quietly, Arhival translated what was being said for the three worried young elves that stood beside her.

Galador spoke up, "We went to the clearing. Then Legless-"

"Legolas." Galathil corrected under his breath.

"Legolas," Galador continued, "Started bossing us around before he decided to ignore us all together. Then he announced he was going to leave, he wanted to go somewhere more exiting I think. He was just going to abandon us so we had no choice but to follow. He led us to a mud hole and pushed me and Eldanna in before rousing some spiders with this silly song."

Before Galador could go any further, Earelen interrupted,

"You lying little orc!" she spat in Sindarin, "You know that's not true! You ran off before we even reached the clearing and we had to come after you when we heard Eldanna's cries for help."

"Earelen!" Arhival said warningly, it wouldn't do to call the son of the Dale negotiator an orc.

Thranduil turned to the elflings (who were all glaring at Galador) with one eyebrow raised. He then turned back to Galador and said, "According to Earelen, you and Eldanna ran off before reaching the clearing, forcing the others to come and look for the pair of you."

"That isn't true!" Galador said angrily, "Those brats would have gladly seen us spider bait before so much as thinking of helping us!"

Spider Bait. The words formed a worrying connection in the king's mind. What if his son had intended to go spider baiting?

"How can you say that?" Aros asked in disgust. He knew Galador wouldn't understand, but the adults would and would tell the treacherous human where his place was, "Legolas saved your life and this is how you repay him! By trying to pin the blame for your foolhardy actions on him."

Thranduil turned once again to the elflings, and switching to Sindarin asked, "Would you like to recount your side of the events?"

Balar began the tale; "We were very near the clearing, so Arhival deemed it would be safe to let us get there on our own. We were all together at that point. Galador and Eldanna were slightly further behind, talking about something and Aros, Earelen, Legolas, Elanor and myself were up front, Legolas acting as a translator. When we reached the clearing, we realised that Galador and Eldanna were missing. A few minutes later we heard Eldanna screaming and calling for help."

Balar stopped and Earelen picked up the story, "We didn't know what to do at first. The shouts were coming from the south and we've always been told not to go that way. We all know how dangerous it is. After a moment of indecision, it was Legolas who said we had to go and help the humans. We couldn't just leave them. So, I took Elanor on my back and we went after them. I tell you now, it was lucky we arrived when we did."

She shuddered and Aros continued for her.

"Galador and Eldanna were trapped in one of the mini bogs and a spider had just turned up on the other side of the clearing. Legolas and me went to distract the spider whilst Earelen and Balar got Galador and Eldanna out of the bog. I fell, and the spider was baring down on me. I shouted at Legolas to leave me but he wouldn't." Aros swallowed hard, "He jumped in front of the spider and saved my life. Legolas got it partially stuck in the bog, but before he did that, it bit him. He saved me." Aros finished miserably. It was obvious he felt responsible for what happened.

Balar concluded the tale, "Legolas told us to run, so we did. Thankfully we all got back. But please, you must believe us; we wouldn't have gone against the trust you gave us. We wouldn't do anything to endanger any of the humans."

Thranduil sighed; he had no idea whom to believe. He thought Galador was lying, just from the way he talked and his body language, but he couldn't just accuse the boy on a hunch. He gave a brief account of the tale the elflings had just told him to the human children and then asked if it was true.

Eldanna and Elanor nodded solemnly. Eldanna looked miserable at the fact she had run off with her brother, but he did not share the remorse.

"So what if it is true?" he snarled, "That brat had no right to tell me what to do. I'm nearly double his age."

"Galador!" Galathil cried out, shocked and angry.

"Actually," Aegnor said calmly, "Legolas is nearly double your age. You're what, nine summers? Legolas is nearly eighteen."

"Yeah right." Galador sneered.

"You'll find it perfectly true. You forget, elves age differently to humans."

Galador was about to make some sort of rude reply when Galathil put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"By your leave Thranduil, I would like to take my son to our quarters." The man's voice was as cold and hard as steel and full of suppressed rage at his son's actions.

Thranduil nodded, "I will see you in my office later."

Galathil turned and lead Galador out the room.

While all this was being discussed, Legolas lay on a bed in the Infirmary. A few minutes after Brithon had completed the power transfer, the young prince groaned and stirred. He blinked and the world swam back into view. He groaned again and tried to kick some of the blankets off of himself, he was sweltering.

"Hush, lie still." Came a voice from beside him.

Legolas turned to see Mithril standing there.

"But I'm so hot." He whispered hoarsely.

Mithril felt his brow and shock her head; "It's the poison playing tricks on your senses Prince Legolas. You are actually icy cold. But apart from that, how do you feel?"

"My head's pounding like there's an angry dwarf inside trying to get out," Legolas whispered through cracked lips, "My throat's so dry, my arm feels as if it's on fire, my whole body aches and my stomach is writhing as though I've just eaten live snakes."

Mithril stroked the young prince's hair off his face and asked, "Will you drink this for me? It'll help you feel better."

Legolas nodded, anything that would stop the incredible pain he was in. Mithril helped ease him into a sitting position then raised a small cup to his lips, Legolas took a sip. Instantly, his stomach protested violently. He retched. Mithril quickly grabbed a basin and held it up so Legolas didn't have to be sick over himself. The little prince vomited and retched into the basin for a few minutes before slumping back against his pillows. Arianwen came with a fresh basin and took the old one away, glancing sympathetically at Legolas.

Mithril made as to get the young prince to try and take some more medicine but he shied away from her.

"Please caun nin, you must drink this."

Grimacing, Legolas tried again to take the medicine. He was successful at keeping it down this time, but only just. This small effort left him exhausted; he fell back against the pillows once more and his eyes fluttered shut. Mithril stared worriedly at the small form beside her. It wasn't natural for elves to sleep with their eyes shut; they only did so when seriously injured or ill, which didn't happen naturally either.

A few hours later, after Galador had been dealt with, Galathil had apologised to Thranduil and the whole ordeal had been cleared up, Aros, Balar and Earelen came into the Infirmary. Legolas was still asleep, but Mithril told the young elves that they could see him.

"Call me if there's any change, I need to go and make some more antidote." She told them.

They nodded silently and walked quickly over to where their friend lay. His skin was ice cold and nearly as white as the sheets that covered him. His left arm lay on top of the sheets, bandaged neatly. He moaned and turned slightly in his unnatural sleep. The three friends stood beside him, staring miserably down upon the pale face of their friend.

"Is there anything you could do to help him sleep more easily Earelen?" Aros asked quietly.

Earelen bit her lip, then nodded and said quietly, "There is one thing but I've never done it before. I heard naneth talking to adar about it, but I don't know if I'll be able to. I'll need your help."

The two boys agreed instantly. Anything they could do to help their friend. Aros and Balar took Earelen's hands in their own while she slowed her breathing. Slowly, her pupils turned silver. She trembled slightly, but stayed upright.

__

She was walking through the forest, it was dark and the air was suffocatingly heavy. Looking around, she saw him. Legolas was sitting in the middle of a small clearing up ahead. He was shaking. As she drew nearer, Earelen realised he was crying.

"So alone." She heard him moan, "All alone in the darkness. No one here to help me, why can't I die? Why do I have to suffer under the Shadow?"

"Legolas!" Earelen called out to the young prince.

"Earelen." He breathed as he turned around.

Earelen dropped down beside him and caught the prince in a tight embrace, which he returned.

"You're not alone." She whispered to him, "Never ever, ever. We won't leave you. You don't have to suffer alone. You have friends. We will never leave you, always remember that."

Legolas' breathing calmed a little and the boys saw tears in Earelen's eyes. They wondered what she was seeing, what Legolas was dreaming about.

__

"We'll help you though this and we'll be together forever. Don't leave us Legolas, please don't leave us."

Legolas' hold on Earelen tightened as he whispered, "I won't leave you, I promise."

"Heart to heart, soul to soul, mind to mind." Earelen whispered, "Our friendship will remain unchanged through out the ages of the earth. We will not part."

"Diolla le mellon nin." Legolas whispered.

The darkness around them was easing and the air was lighter. Legolas was beginning to realise just what his friendship with Aros, Balar and Earelen was. It was more than just a friendship. Little did they know it, but the others were realising too.

Just then, Legolas cried out in pain as a convulsion wracked his body.

"Legolas!" Earelen cried, fearful for her friend.

"The poison." Legolas groaned before crying out again with the agony.

Earelen was torn from the young prince and flung back into the real world. She staggered and Aros caught her. The convulsions wracked Legolas' body in this world too.

"Mithril!" Balar yelled as Legolas' eyes flew open as he gasped in pain.

Mithril, Arianwen and Brithon were through in an instant. Arianwen shepherded the young ones out before returning to the prince's side. Mithril was holding the prince's head gently; whispering calming words to him while Brithon carefully unwrapped the dressing on Legolas' arm. Arianwen fetched the athelas salve and the vials of antidote Mithril had prepared earlier. Once the dressing was off, she took one of the antidotes and after warning Legolas that what she was about to do would sting a little, poured a small amount onto each of the puncture marks that had already begun to heal. Legolas cried out as the liquid touched his arm. He felt like white-hot pokers were being pressed into the wounds. Arianwen then began to apply the athelas salve. Legolas retched miserably, the pain was too much. Mithril barely had time to raise the basin before he vomited. Legolas groaned as he flopped back against the pillow. He was so tired of the pain. Tears poured down his face as Arianwen re-dressed the wound and Mithril gave him small sips of water. Then Mithril picked up the second vial. Legolas grimaced as she poured pale green liquid into a glass and brought it up to his mouth. Legolas moaned and squeezed his lips firmly shut.

"Please Legolas," Mithril said softly, "You need to drink this. You have to get better, you can't leave us now little one."

Legolas remembered his promise to Earelen and opened his lips a crack. He gagged on the first few sips, but after that it went down more easily. Once he had taken the medicine. Legolas allowed himself to be taken back to merciful oblivion. He slumped against the pillows as he passed out again.

__

Translations

Caun nin - my prince

Naneth - mother

Adar - father

Diolla le mellon nin - thank you my friend.

Replies to Reviews:

Daw the minstrel: Yes, if there's one thing they can be credited with, it's bravery. Poor Thranduil indeed. I never thought that the kids might get in the way of the arrows though. Well, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Legolas-gurl88: He didn't think it was stupid, but then again what's that old saying about bravery and stupidity being one and the same? Glad you like it, hope this chapter's as good!

Nellas: Soon enough for you. Legolas does seem to get into trouble a lot; but then again, he's just a little elfling looking for fun. Thanks for that, hope you like this chapter too!


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